All The Things You've Shown Me
by Becki
Summary: Sequel to The Things You Choose To Be. Jade comes back from California having finished her Ph.D. in Biology and Forensic Science. But tragedy strikes when Grissom is shot and ends up in a coma fighting for his life. Complete!
1. Ch 1: Home

Well, here's the start of my second piece. I hope you enjoy this one as much as the last - *You will review my work...you will review my work* Everybody now! *You will review my work.*  
*****  
  
All The Things You've Shown Me  
  
By Becki.  
  
Summary: Jade comes back from California having finished her Ph.D. in Biology and Forensic Science. But tragedy strikes when Grissom is shot and ends up in a coma fighting for his life.  
  
Comments: Sequel to The Things You Choose To Be. Really need to read this first to understand who Jade is. This is my second CSI fiction - they are really great characters to write about. Comments would be most appreciated.  
  
Disclaimer: CSI characters you recognise aren't mine. Anything you don't recognise is mine.  
  
Background: It's 2002. Five years have past since the Simon Baxter case. Jade has been in California for most of it studying for her Ph.D. Sam (the CSI that was there before Holly) has left, Holly is dead and Sara is now with them. Jade and Warrick have cooled off their relationship for a while but are still quite close to one another. Think that's about it that you need to know before hand. I do try to explain it all.  
  
*****  
  
Chapter One: Home.  
  
Clouds dance past the window, the sun low sending purples and pinks splattered across the evening sky like watercolour paint. Far, far below hot sand blew in the breeze, in the desert surrounding Las Vegas.  
  
Home.  
  
She was finally returning home. She'd missed it. California was great but it wasn't the same. She smiled and looked up at the air-hostess as she was asked if she wanted a drink. She asked for a coke and thanked her, then looked back out of the window.  
  
She'd just finished her Ph.D. in Biology and Forensic Science and had been told she'd received top marks. She hadn't told her family yet and had decided to tell them in person, more particularly tell Warrick and Catherine and especially Gil. He would be so proud of her.  
  
She hadn't seen Warrick for a few months and she missed him dearly. For the few months following the Simon Baxter case and until she'd left for California - her and Warrick had gotten very close and passionate. But because she was leaving, they decided to cool it off and just be friends. It was hard. She didn't think it would be so hard to be away from him for such long periods. What she thought was just a fling, turned out to be much, much more. She had realised that she really did care for him and they tried to keep in touch as often as possible. They wrote, they phoned and they'd even visited each other. His place was her first stop off as soon as she touched down.  
  
The air-hostess came back with her drink and Jade took a sip, put her head phones on and started to watch the film that had been playing.  
  
*****  
  
Warrick let the water slide down him as he stood in the shower with his eyes closed. He always found showers to be very refreshing and always launched his day - well, night with a positive start.  
  
No sooner had he stepped out of the shower, the doorbell rang. He cursed and quickly grabbed at his towel, wrapping it round his waist as he headed for the door and pulled it open, wondering who would be calling on him at this time of day.  
  
It took him a moment to register that the young woman, smiling in front of him was Jade - the last person he expected to see on his doorstep.  
  
"Jade! What you doing here, honey? I thought you were in California!"  
  
He questioned happily as he went to hug her. She held him back, looking at the water dripping down his muscular torso.  
  
"It's good to see you too! But no hug until you're dry!"  
  
He laughed and settled with leaning towards her and planting a kiss on her lips.  
  
"What are you doing here, anyway?"  
  
He asked as he moved back inside with her following. He entered the bedroom and she stood leaning in the doorway as he dried off.  
  
"I finished my Ph.D. and decided to come home. No reason to stay in California - graduation isn't for another few weeks. Oh, and I passed with top marks."  
  
She said smiling. He looked at her from under the towel that he was using to dry his hair.  
  
"Jade, that's fantastic!"  
  
He moved over and hugged her. She hugged back now that he was dry.  
  
"Congratulations. Does Grissom know yet?"  
  
"No, that's another reason why I came back - I wanted to tell him in person."  
  
She yawned.  
  
"Jet lag?"  
  
Warrick question. She nodded.  
  
"There's fresh coffee in the kitchen if you want some."  
  
"Cheers."  
  
She moved out and towards the kitchen. Warrick smiled, happier than he had felt for a while. His girl was back.  
  
*****  
  
When Warrick came downstairs ready for work he found Jade standing outside looking out at the view from the top of the hill that Warrick lived on.  
  
"You've missed it, haven't you?"  
  
Warrick said from behind her. She turned and looked at him.  
  
"Huh? Oh yeah, it's amazing how much you miss all the casino's and lights. It's good to be back."  
  
Warrick moved up closer behind her as she looked back out. Putting his arms around her waist he smiled.  
  
"It's good to have you back."  
  
She smiled at him and planted a kiss on his lips.  
  
"You two."  
  
Warrick pulled back and looked at his watch.  
  
"Suppose we'd better get going. Meet you there."  
  
She nodded and they moved towards their own cars and drove off.  
  
Reaching the lab, they entered the main door to see Sara chatting at the front desk.  
  
"That's Sara, she's the new CSI."  
  
Warrick explained.  
  
"I know - hey Sara!"  
  
Sara turned and smiled when she saw who it was.  
  
"Jade!"  
  
They hugged.  
  
"You two know each other?"  
  
Warrick questioned amazed.  
  
"We're old friends."  
  
Sara smiled at Jade, who smiled back.  
  
"We, uh, met at a convention."  
*****  
Flashback  
  
"He's amazing, isn't he?"  
  
Jade looked at the girl next to her who had spoken.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
She questioned.  
  
"Gil Grissom."  
  
She gestured to the man up on the stage, talking.  
  
"He's knows everything there is to know about forensics. He's the best."  
  
The girl said. Jade smirked to herself.  
  
"Yes, he is."  
  
"I can't believe I've never been to one of his conventions before. Maybe he's just never done any before."  
  
The girl continued.  
  
"Oh, he's done quite a few."  
  
Jade replied.  
  
"Really? You've seen him before?"  
  
"A few times, yeah."  
  
Jade smiled.  
  
"Wow. Oh - I'm Sara by the way. Sara Sidle."  
  
"Jade. Jade Greenlee."  
  
They smiled and went back to listening. Sara continued to bombard Gil with questions which caused Jade and him to smile at each other.  
  
After the seminar was over Jade and Sara got to chatting and decided to keep in touch. Suddenly mid-sentence Sara stopped and froze in place.  
  
"Oh my God - he's heading this way!"  
  
"Who?"  
  
Jade frowned and turned to see Gil heading over. Jade smiled at him and he smiled back as he approached. Gil glanced at Sara and gave her a smile which she returned happily.  
  
"Well, how'd I do?"  
  
He questioned.  
  
"You did good, better than last time."  
  
Jade told him.  
  
"Anything was better than last time!"  
  
He joked. Jade laughed at him, then turned to Sara.  
  
"Oh Gil, this is Sara, Sara Sidle. A big fan of yours."  
  
"I have fans?"  
  
He questioned frowning.  
  
"You know him?!"  
  
Sara questioned in amazement. Jade smiled and nodded.  
  
"He's my God-father."  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?! You let me ramble on like that!"  
  
Sara blushed.  
  
"Ah, it's always more fun this way."  
  
"Well, Ms. Sidle. It's a pleasure to meet you."  
  
He shook her hand.  
  
"You were um...fantastic out there. Really knew what you were talking about."  
  
"Thank you."  
*****  
Present  
  
Sara, Warrick and Jade headed down the corridor towards the break room.  
  
"I've gotta head to the locker room - I'll meet you in a minute."  
  
"Sure."  
  
Jade said and watched Warrick head down an adjacent corridor.  
  
*****  
  
Catherine and Nick were leaving the locker room as Warrick approached.  
  
"Hey Warrick."  
  
Nick greeted him.  
  
"Hey - there's a surprise for the both of you in the break room."  
  
"A surprise? What is it?"  
  
"Go and find out."  
  
Warrick smiled.  
  
*****  
  
Reaching the break room Catherine yelped when she saw Jade sitting on the sofa next to Greg.  
  
"Jade!"  
  
"Catherine!"  
  
Jade lifted herself up off the sofa and gave Catherine a hug. Then she turned to Nick and gave him a hug.  
  
"Hey girl - it's great to see you!"  
  
"Yeah, you too."  
  
She sat back down as did the others.  
  
"Anyone know where Gil is? He's usually here by now, isn't he?"  
  
"He had to cover part of the day shift so he's already out in the field. He should be back soon though."  
  
Jade nodded.  
  
It wasn't long before Warrick had joined them and Catherine was handing out assignments. Nick and Sara are given a homicide while Warrick is sent on a routine burglary. Catherine was asked to finish Gil's paperwork off so Jade stayed with her until Warrick came back, then she helped him out with the evidence.  
After 20 minutes Grissom's phone goes off in the office and Catherine answers it. It's Brass.  
*****  
Well? How's this for the first chapter? Comments more than welcome. 


	2. Ch 2: Distant Voices

Chapter two for your enjoyment. Thanks for the reviews so far - keep them coming! - *You will review my work...you will review my work* Everybody now! *You will review my work.*  
  
*****  
  
Chapter Two - Distant Voices  
  
The room was shadow cast - moonlight shimmered slightly through the gaps in the curtains but light was flooding the room from the open door where Brass was standing, on the phone. He cast a stern look down to the illuminated floor where two of his officers were standing over the still form of a man. He was laying face up, blood was covering the front of his shirt and pooling out slightly on the floor around him. The sound of an ambulance was heard off in the distance.  
  
*****  
  
Hearing the ambulance brought Catherine back to reality.  
  
"Catherine?"  
  
She heard Brass say.  
  
"Jim - Jade's here - "  
  
She dropped the phone as she full reality hit her and ran full tilt out of the room and down the corridors to the break room. She stopped sharply just inside the door to the break room causing Warrick to stand quickly in shock.  
  
"Hey Catherine slow down, you almost gave me a heart attack!"  
  
He stopped talking at the look on her face; her eyes were tear filled and she was pale. Jade stood, a sense of dread spreading over her like a shadow as Catherine look at her.  
  
"What; what is it?"  
  
Catherine took a breath.  
  
"There's been an incident."  
  
Jade had a bad feeling she knew what was coming and she felt her hands shaking.  
  
"Grissom's been shot."  
  
Jade let out a shaky sigh and tried to remain composed. Warrick looked stunned.  
  
"What?!"  
  
He exclaimed.  
  
"How bad?"  
  
Jade asked calmly. Calmer than she felt.  
  
"He took two in the chest, one in the stomach."  
  
Catherine's voice sounded forced. Jade's composure weakened dramatically and a voice whispered frantically in her mind.  
  
*Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, stay calm, stay calm, stay calm.*  
  
Catherine continued to talk.  
  
"He should be at Desert Palm in a few minutes. Brass is with him."  
  
Jade was unable to get her legs moving. Every muscle in her body was paralysed in shock and she had a dazed expression on her face as she tried to process the information.  
  
*Grissom's been shot, shot, two in the chest, taken to Desert Palm, one in the stomach, Grissom's been shot, Grissom, shot, Brass is with him, an incident, shot, Grissom...Gil Grissom - *  
  
She could hear Warrick calling to her but his voice sounded distant, far away. Nothing seemed real and all she could think of was Gil. She bolted from the room. It took a moment for the others to react but Warrick and Catherine were soon hot on her heels. She ran down the corridors and out to her car where she frantically fumbled with her car keys but couldn't get them in the lock, her hands were shaking so much. Warrick reached her, the most composed of the three and gently took them off her. He told her that he'd drive and he unlocked the car and they all jumped in. The tires squeaked and he burnt rubber as he shot out of the car park and down the road towards the hospital.  
  
Catherine looked at Jade who looked stricken. Just how Catherine was feeling.  
  
*****  
  
Brass was standing in the corridor staring at a door when he turned to see Catherine, Warrick and Jade power walking towards him.  
  
"How is he?"  
  
Catherine asked immediately. Brass looked at Jade who was staring at the blood on his shirt.  
  
"They're working on him now." He leaned into Catherine and added quietly. "It doesn't look good."  
  
Catherine kept herself composed and nodded silently.  
  
The doors that Brass had been looking at suddenly opened and a trolley pushed out with nurses and doctors surrounding him. Jade recognised the doctor heading towards Brass.  
  
"Jack!"  
  
Dr, Jack Martin looked at her and gave her a smile.  
  
"Jade - I didn't know you were back."  
  
"How is he?"  
  
She asked frantically. Jack's expression went serious.  
  
"We're taking him up to surgery. He's weak but stable. Jade...I can't tell you that he's gonna be okay."  
  
He told her gently. Jade nodded and stared down at the floor.  
  
"Thanks Doc." Brass replied. "Where can we wait?"  
  
"There's a waiting room at the end of the corridor, and you can get coffee up there and to the left."  
  
He said pointing, then he jogged off down the corridor himself. For a moment they were silent and still, then Catherine spoke.  
  
"I'd better call Nick and Sara - I haven't had the chance."  
  
Warrick and Brass nodded while Jade stared down the corridor.  
  
"And I'd better get back out there - whoever it was killed the officer watching outside. Call me when you hear anything."  
  
Brass headed back down the corridor with Catherine. Warrick turned to Jade.  
  
"Come on honey." Warrick said. "Let's go and sit in the waiting room.  
  
*****  
  
"I can't believe this is happening."  
  
Sara said quietly. Nick and Greg looked at her, having been thinking the same thing.  
  
"Did Catherine say anything else?"  
  
Sara asked Nick, who had taken the call.  
  
"No. Just that we were to drop the case we're on and process the scene of Grissom's...the scene of the crime."  
  
Sara took a breath.  
  
"How can she expect us to carry on as if nothing's happened!"  
  
"Hey..." Nick said gently but with slight force. "Remember what Gris always says about personal stuff getting in the way of work. We're gonna go and process this scene like any other scene."  
  
"And what about Grissom?"  
  
"Catherine said she'd be back as soon as she hears anything."  
  
"And Warrick?"  
  
"Catherine's gonna get him to stay with Jade. She's gonna need someone."  
  
"Oh poor Jade."  
  
Greg suddenly spoke up. The others looked at him as he looked up from the table.  
  
"She was so looking forward to telling Grissom how she'd done in her Ph.D. It's just not right."  
  
He stood and walked out of the room.  
  
"Come on - let's get going."  
  
Nick said, standing. Sara took a breath, nodded, then followed him out.  
  
*****  
  
Back at the hospital Catherine was sitting holding Jade's hand while Warrick was pacing. Two hours had gone past, Brass had called twice and Nick and Sara were back at HQ processing the information they'd found at the scene.  
  
Jade was staring at the door but wasn't really looking at anything. The world was feeling very far away - all sounds were distant and distorted and she couldn't seem to focus her eyes properly. She took a deep breath which caused a look from Catherine. She tried to focus on Catherine but her eyes and body just weren't listening - it was as if she was not completely in this universe, like she was caught between two worlds and didn't really belong anywhere. But she managed a small smile at Catherine just to let her know she was coping. Was she coping? Jade couldn't tell.  
  
It felt like forever had passed for the trio when finally the door opened and Jade's friend entered. Jade stood quickly, letting go of Catherine's hand. The doctor reached her and made her sit down next to him, his expression serious.  
  
"Tell me straight, Jack."  
  
She commanded him.  
  
"He's in the ICU. He's on life support, but there was massive internal bleeding. I'm not sure if we've saved him life...of just prolonged it for a few hours."  
  
She nodded numbly. Catherine and Warrick looked like they were taking the news worse than Jade. Warrick continued his pacing, while Catherine's eyes welled up again and she took a few deep breaths to get rid of the lump in her throat.  
  
"I wanna see him."  
  
"Sure, but only for a few minutes - and just you."  
  
"No. I want Warrick and Catherine with me."  
  
"I'm sorry Jade - it's relatives only."  
  
"They're his closest friends. We're all one huge family. Please Jack. I need them with me."  
  
She finished quietly. Jack looked at her for a moment, then relented.  
  
"Okay, but only for a few minutes."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
She stood. Jack led them up to ICU and showed them to Grissom's room. Jade entered but stopped quickly just inside the door. Monitors were surrounding the bed - wires, IV lines and tubes were running all around the room, going from Grissom's arms, chest, mouth and fingers, to the monitors - the place look hectic.  
  
*Gil would hate this, there's no order.*  
  
Jade though with a pain in her heart. There was a gentle beeping in the background of his heart and the sound of his breathing made louder by the tube down his throat. He was bare-chested, the only thing covering him was a blanket around his waist and the bandages. One was covering a large section of his abdomen, one on his left side just below the bottom rib, and one on his chest. There was blood stains seeping through them.  
  
Jade reached back, searching for a comforting hand. Warrick grabbed it and squeezed it. Catherine placed a hand on Jade's shoulder, not just for Jade but also for her own strength. Jade gave Warrick's hand a needy squeeze to tell him she needed him there, then released it and carefully moved forward until she reached the bed. The gentle humming of the monitors in the background telling her that he was in fact alive. She looked down at him, saw his hand and delicately picked it up and cradled it against herself with both hands. For a while she was silent, just watching his gentle features, then she spoke quietly and calmly.  
  
"Do you remember when I was eight and I saw Superman for the first time. They were showing it at the multiplex. Dad was away and couldn't take me so you did. After, I told you that I wanted to be like Lois Lane because I wanted to fly with Superman like she did...You lifted me onto your shoulder on my front and you 'flew' me all the way home. I remember like it was yesterday."  
  
A small smile played across her lips for a second, then was gone.  
  
"From that moment you were my Superman...I always thought you were indestructible."  
  
Her lip started to quiver as she said this and she knew that she'd been wrong.  
  
"You can't leave me. I don't think I can..." Her voice started to go. "I can't go through all that again." Her eyes welled up. "I can't lose another father. Please Gil..."  
  
She closed her eyes and looked down, trying not to cry out loud, but her body started to shake with sobs. She felt strong hands grab hold of her shoulders. She bent down and kissed Gil's hand, then lowered it back onto the blankets. She turned into Warrick's embrace and gripped the front of his shirt with both her hands, hiding her face by his collar bone. He wrapped his arms around her tightly for a moment. He glanced at Catherine who's eyes were also filled with tears and gestured that he was going to take her outside. Catherine nodded. Warrick released his grip slightly and turned to lead her out of the room, one arm still around her waist and she leaned against him.  
  
Catherine moved over to Grissom's bed. She looked down at him, remembering everything she ever knew about him. His love of reading, bugs, riding roller coasters, his fish board, the way he thought, the way he was protective over his CSI's even though he sometimes didn't show it. She took a breath.  
  
"When I first met you...you were...I found you fascinating. You knew so much, you taught me so much. I tried to instil that feeling you gave me about the job into every CSI I've worked with. I even managed to persuade Holly to stay for that first case because I knew that when she'd solved it she would feel like King Kong on cocaine. That's the feeling you gave me."  
  
She looked across the room and out of the window.  
  
"And when Holly died...If I hadn't have gotten her to stay she'd still be alive. Since then, I've had this, this cloud over my head about protecting everyone around me - you, Sara, Nick, Warrick and now Jade...I didn't want it to happen to any of you either."  
  
She looked back down at him.  
  
"This has been my nightmare ever since that day." Her lips thinned and a determined look crossed her face. "I'm gonna find out who did this...and I'm gonna make it their nightmare."  
*****  
  
Well? I know it's going quite fast but that's how I've planned it? Comments more than welcome. 


	3. Ch 3: Roads To Dead Ends

Chapter Three for your enjoyment. Thanks for the reviews so far - keep them coming! - *You will review my work...you will review my work* Everybody now! *You will review my work.*  
  
*****  
  
Chapter Three - Roads To Dead Ends.  
  
Catherine walked into the lab to see Nick standing over Greg who was looking into a microscope.  
  
"Right, what have we got?"  
  
She asked, getting right to the point. Nick and Greg both looked up.  
  
"How's Gris?"  
  
Nick asked. Catherine breathed deeply for a moment before she spoke.  
  
"He's stable for the moment...But it doesn't look good."  
  
"Oh man."  
  
Nick said quietly to himself.  
  
"Which is why we have to catch this man. What have we got so far?"  
  
"Not much. Sara is processing the evidence and information for the murder Grissom was investigating, and I'm checking through any evidence from the second crime - the dead officer for one. We're hoping that if we can solve one of them, we can get the other solved."  
  
Catherine nodded.  
  
"Makes sense. Some criminals like to come back to the scene of the crime. Anything of interest yet?"  
  
"Actually yes. Grissom's gun had a bullet missing."  
  
"Grissom got a round off."  
  
Nick smiled, nodding.  
  
"We haven't found the bullet yet so there's every chance it hit the suspect, we're processing all the blood now to see if any doesn't belong to any of the victims."  
  
"What about the building? Who's named as the owner?"  
  
"No-one. It's been on the market since the owner died about four years ago. The place was pretty much left as he left it - nothing in the main warehouse section and a couple old pieces of furniture in the back office room. We have some fingerprints and we've got the bullets from both the officer and Grissom, which Brass brought in. Oh, and we also found some unusual white powder on the desk - could be nothing, could be everything."  
  
Catherine nodded again.  
  
"Keep at it. I'm gonna go check on Sara."  
  
"I think she's down in the autopsy room."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
Catherine said walking out. She headed down to where Dr. Robbins resided to find the both of them leaning over a table with a dead male laying on it.  
  
"Hey."  
  
She said. Again, both of them looked up at the voice and immediately Sara asked about Grissom. Catherine told her and her face fell. Catherine saw the expression and moved closer.  
  
"Come on Sara I need you here to work this crime scene. You with me."  
  
Sara swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.  
  
"We, uh...were just going over what Dr. Robbins found."  
  
She paused. Catherine waited for someone to continue.  
  
"Well...What did you find?"  
  
She urged.  
  
"To be honest not a lot." Dr. Robbins said. "He's aged between 25 and 30, average height, average weight, brown hair and eyes. There's no scars or 'anything' which can make him stand out of a crowd."  
  
"Great."  
  
Catherine said. Sara continued.  
  
"But we did notice that he was pretty smartly dressed for someone in an old run-down building. We also found some sort of powder under his fingernails which I'm about to get processed."  
  
Sara said holding up a small envelope.  
  
"White powder?"  
  
Sara nodded.  
  
"How did you know?"  
  
"Nick said he'd found some as well."  
  
"Really? Great."  
  
"Keep working at it. I'm gonna be in Grissom's office sorting out some of his other cases if you need me." Sara nodded and turned back to Dr. Robbins as Catherine marched out.  
  
*****  
  
The next few hours were the worst in Jade's life. She didn't remember the last time that she felt such pain. Where there wasn't pain, there was an emptiness that she didn't think could ever be filled. The last time that she felt this way, even though she could barely remember it, was when her parents died.  
  
Sitting by Gil's bedside she went though the events of the past hours and how things had changed so quickly. Life was so precious and short, she'd learnt that five years ago but she hadn't thought about it since, until now.  
  
Dr. Martin - Jack. Her old friend. She hadn't seen him since school and now he was the one telling her that Gris probably won't make it. Replaying the images of the conversation they had had mere moments ago, she sighed and forced back the tears.  
  
Twenty Minutes before...  
  
Jade was standing outside Gil's room with Jack, Warrick had just gone to get some more coffee. Jack was trying to tell her how serious the situation was but her mind had forced her to think positively.  
  
"He's in a coma, the prognosis isn't good."  
  
The doctor said.  
  
"I don't accept that."  
  
Jade said defiantly.  
  
"He's not breathing on his own, the machines are doing it for him."  
  
Jack replied.  
  
"That's why you have them, to keep people alive - that's what you do here."  
  
She insisted.  
  
"But there's a difference between being alive...and living."  
  
Jack said gently.  
  
"I won't give up on him. He never gave up on me."  
  
Jade said sternly.  
  
"Neither will we, but what we want isn't the issue, it's what he wants. Does he have a living will?"  
  
Jack questioned carefully.  
  
"I'm his living will!" She said in surprise. "I want you to take every measure necessary no matter how extreme to keep him alive - I'm not going to let him die!"  
  
She turned and marched back into Grissom's room. Jack sighed, knowing it was pointless to argue with her.  
  
Present  
  
She knew she'd been harsh, but she had to. It was the only way to keep going - to concentrate on Grissom waking up and getting better. If she didn't she wouldn't be able to cope, she'd fall apart even with everyone's support.  
  
She absently rubbed her stomach where the scar from the knife wound resided and took a deep breath.  
  
"Come on Gil. You can pull through this. Cos if you...How am I suppose to let you go...I don't think I can..."  
  
Her voice went and she stopped talking to stop the tears flowing. A few moments later Catherine entered the room. Jade took a deep breath to get rid of the lump and stood, giving Catherine a smile. Catherine knew straight away that something was wrong.  
  
"Jade?"  
  
She asked concerned.  
  
"Hey Cath - how's the investigation going?"  
  
She palmed off her friends concern off. Catherine decided to let it drop for now.  
  
"It's getting there."  
  
Catherine lied, sitting down opposite Jade. She knew that they weren't having much luck trying to find the suspect. Jade lowered herself back into the seat, her hands on the arms rests.  
  
"It'll work out. You'll catch him. You have to."  
  
She said making it sound like a command as she looked at Gil, whose only movement was his chest moving gently up and down, and up...and down...  
  
Catherine stared into Jade's determined eyes. She was so sure that they would catch him, but Catherine knew different. 10 years on the job told her that things were slowly going down the drain. The evidence just wasn't working for them this time. She inhaled slowly and looked down at her hands in her lap.  
  
"Jade..."  
  
She sounded like she was about to confess something and Jade looked up straight away.  
  
"Catherine? What is it?"  
  
Catherine watched the concern on her face and couldn't tell her.  
  
"Don't worry. We'll find him. Just concentrate on Gil, okay? Don't worry about the case. We'll sort it out."  
  
Jade smiled, relieved that it wasn't something more serious.  
  
"I know you will."  
  
Catherine nodded, a fake smile on her face.  
  
"So, has the Doc said anything else?"  
  
"He um...he...doesn't think Gil is likely to wake up. But he will. I know he will. I have to believe that...if I don't..."  
  
Her voice went. Her eyes didn't leave Gil's body and her hand reached out and took his hand again. Catherine knew she was trying to stay strong, trying to stay positive. She stood.  
  
"I'd better get back to the lab. Call us if...if anything, okay?"  
  
Jade just nodded, and as soon as the door had closed on Catherine Jade let her head drop and she took a very shaky breath.  
  
"You have to get him Catherine...please...for Gil. Someone has to pay for his...this crime."  
  
Well? I know it's been a while since I posted but you can't rush a muse! Comments could help though ;-) 


	4. Ch 4: Waiting

**Here you go – chapter four for you. Sorry for the long long delay, can you ever forgive me? I kinda got lost in the Harry Potter world for a while ;-) Then I couldn't be asked to sit and write all the jargon and case evidence stuff, which is why it's a little skint in this chapter. Sorry again. Hope you're all still reading this.**

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**Chapter Four- Waiting.**

A week later Catherine, Sara, Nick and Warrick had congregated in one of the many evidence rooms at CSI. The case had been really slow going and they were compiling all they had, trying to find a new route to go down.

                "Okay, lets go through it from the beginning. Sara."

Catherine stated to get the meeting started.

                "Murder number one. Unknown Caucasian male, mid to late 20's. Smartly dressed. Found in the back room of a deserted warehouse, shot four times to the chest. Bullets match the same that we retrieved from the officer and Grissom, so whoever killed him came back to the scene of the crime. There was a white powder found on the desk and under his fingernails turned out to be heroine – leading us to believe that the victim was either the dealer or a customer. My money's on him being the dealer."

                "Why?"

                "Because a dealer isn't likely to off one of his customers and lose money, unless it was under certain circumstances. So it's more likely to be a customer offing the dealer to get more drugs."

                "But why would the customer kill his dealer, he'd then have to find someone else to get his supply from. Unless the customer was going to start dealing – or was a disgruntled partner."

                "Which gives us a small lead. No much to go on but I've asked Brass to keep an eye out for new dealers."

Sara told Nick.

                "Good job Sara. Nick."

                "Case number two. Officer shot in the head at the main entrance to the building. His gun was still holstered which means he was caught off guard. Grissom was found in the office door, shot three times. His gun was found a few feet from his position. He'd likely heard the gun shots and pulled his gun out. His gun was one bullet shy so he obviously got a round off but I've found no sign of the bullet which leads me to think it hit the suspect."

                "Have you got any proof of this?"

                "No. There's no unknown blood at the crime scene. It all belongs to one of the victims or Grissom."

                "Anything else?"

                "Few unidentified footprints, but unless we have a suspect to check them against they're pretty much useless. I checked up in their tread and they're from a popular brand of trainer, nothing helpful."

He took a breath and as Catherine was about to say something Greg burst into the room with a piece of paper.

                "ID on the first victim's through!"

He said handing Catherine the paper. Catherine scanned it, the others all waiting. Catherine looked up at them.

                "Well...?"

Nick asked.

                "His name's Daniel Elliot. The step-son of the previous owner. It was unofficially left to him."

She looked up at them.

                "Who was checking on the owners background?"

She asked, the annoyance evident in her voice.

                "I was." Sara said. "I didn't think to check up on his ex-wife's kids. Only his direct relations. I'm sorry."

                "Bit late now."

Catherine said obviously annoyed. Sara looked taken aback. 

                "Cath, anyone could have missed that."

Nick said, noticing Sara's look.

                "Not on a case like this Nick. This is Grissom we're talking about."

                "Catherine, I said I was sorry. I guess I was just a it preoccupied."

Sara said defensively.

                "Don't let personal stuff get in the way of the case Sara. Look, just go and check up on this guy. We need to know where he lives, family, friends – everything. Don't miss anything."

Angry and upset Sara left the room. Nick followed slowly behind with Greg. Catherine and Warrick were now left alone.

                "Catherine?"

Warrick questioned carefully. Catherine's eyes darted up from the table and Warrick could see the concealed sadness in them.

                "How's Jade holding up?"

She asked, changing the subject.

                "She's spending all her time at Grissom's bedside. I think she's holding up okay, but she won't talk to me. I was gonna head down later to see her."

                "Why don't you go now. I'm sure she could use the company, and there's not much for you to do here at the moment. I'll page you if you're needed."

                "If you're sure..."

Warrick said, standing slowly, eager to be at Jade's side.

                "Yeah. Go and look after Jade."

                "What about you?"

                "What about me?"

                "Catherine...you've known Gris longer than all of us, you know if you need to talk I'm here."

                "Thanks Warrick, but I'm fine. Honest."

Warrick nodded, knowing she wasn't. He'd have to wait for her to be ready.

He got up and left, leaving Catherine to sit quietly wither her thoughts. They were getting closer, but not close enough. This case was just taking way too long for her liking. Plus Grissom was still in a coma. His injuries had stabilised and he was out of ICU and in a private room, but he was still unconscious. Catherine sighed and looked down. She didn't know how long she could hold in the tears. It should have been her. And she knew it. It was meant to be her covering part of the day shift, but she hadn't been able to make it. Gil had covered for her. It should have been her in the hospital.

                Feeling the emotions boiling over she stood, clamping her mouth shut and marched down the corridor to the women's toilet. Moving over to one of the sinks she leaned onto it, unable to stop the tears from falling.

                Across the way Sara had seen Cath rush into the toilet and, against her hurt feelings, she moved across the corridor and entered.

                "Cath?"

A cry met her ears, then was suddenly muffled. She turned the corner to find Cath quickly wiping the tears away from her face.

                 "Catherine, are you okay?"

Sara moved over and stood beside her. Catherine looked at herself in the mirror.

                "I can't do this. I can't do this anymore. It should be me laying in that hospital bed. It should have been me on that warehouse floor."

                "What are you talking about?"

Sara asked gently.

                "I was meant to be covering the day shift. But then something came up and Gil covered for me. It's my fault."

                "Oh Cath, it's not your fault. These things happen. You weren't to know that was going to happen. I think you've been handling this really well, better than me by a long shot."

                "I'm sorry I got angry with you. It's just that I promised Grissom we'd find the bastard and right now we're just ending up with another case for his fish board. All the people we help every week, and we can't even help one of our own."

This thought started her off again, and against Sara's better judgement she gave Cath a hug which she obviously needed.

                "We'll get him. Just give it a little more time. We'll find the missing link."

*****

Warrick stopped just outside Grissom's room and looked inside the window. Jade was asleep in the chair, her head resting in her hand, her elbow on the arm of the chair. Grissom was in his usual pose on the bed, the equipment around him beating gently. The room looked much brighter than his ICU room. Jade had brought a few of Grissom's things in to make it more comfortable looking. There were flowers and cards from people wishing him well, and she'd brought a few of his personal belongings as well. Pictures, a few cases of his insects, his music which was playing in the background. Some classical composer, Warrick figured. The Doctors had told them that voices and sounds that he knew may help him recover. They said that it was a good sign that he was still alive because his injuries had been so severe they didn't think he was going to make it for the first 48 hours. But he'd already survived the week and even though he was in a coma, his injuries had stabilised and he was out of intensive care and had been for two days now.

                Warrick entered quietly and took a seat on the sofa across the room. He picked up a paper and sat back, reading quietly. He didn't want to wake Jade. He knew she hadn't been sleeping, the amount of times that week he'd woken up to an empty bed, only to find her in the living room.

                About 20 minutes later Jade stirred and opened her eyes. They focused on Grissom first but when she heard the movement of paper, she looked up and saw Warrick folding the paper down.

                "How long have you been here?"

She questioned, sitting up and stretching the kinks out of her protesting muscles. She reached a hand up and rubbed her neck.

                "A while. Come here."

He gestured to the seat beside him and she got up, moving across the room, and sat down beside him. He turned her to face away slightly and started massaging her neck gently. Her head drooped slightly and he smiled at the response. He could feel the tenseness in her muscles. They sat in silence for a while until Warrick could feel her relaxing, then he stopped massaging and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her. She laid back on his chest, him seated leaning against the corner of the sofa. She closed her eyes for a moment.

                "Are you okay? Maybe you should go home, get some sleep."

                "I'm fine. I want to be here."

                "Jade, you need to sleep. You have to think about you for a while."

                "Why? I'm fine, I'm healthy. I'm not the one lying in a hospital bed."

Warrick hugged her slightly tighter when he heard the quiver in her voice.

                "He'll be alright. Just give him time."

                "That's just it. Time...I can't stand this waiting. Now knowing. It's been a week now...and there's been no change. He has to pull through this. He just has to. He can't leave me alone. He's not allowed to leave me. He said he'd always be here with me. He promised me ever since I lost my parents."

The lump in her throat restricted her talking and she clamped her lips shut. Warrick leaned his head down onto hers and just held her close to him as slow tears fell from her eyes.

*****

Back at CSI, Sara came darting down the corridor to Grissom's office where Catherine was trying to concentrate on paperwork. Sara knocked and entered without waiting for a reply.

                "Brass just got back to us. Elliot's been living in motels for the last five months – about 6 altogether. He actually lives in Portland, Maine. He has no family but he's got a friend living in Maine as his next of kin."

                "Great. Now we're getting somewhere."

She sat thinking a moment.

                "What are you thinking?"

                "I'm thinking we need to get someone to his home, and to interview this friend of his."

Sara's brow furrowed, knowing that look on Catherine's face.

                "Let me guess..."

Sara started saying. She actually looked okay with it.

                "I want you and Nick down there. Contact Portland's CSI team and check with them first. I want you there asap."

Sara nodded and left the room. From the office Catherine heard Sara's voice.

                "Hey Nick! Pack your bags we're off to Portland!"

                "Portland Maine!!!"

Nick exclaimed.

                "Of course Maine – where else!"

                "Damn!"

Catherine smiled to herself. They needed to get out of the building for a while, needed some time away. So did she for that matter. She decided she'd finish her paperwork, then she'd stay at home all day after her shift instead of coming in like she had been for the past week, pestering Ecklie and his team.

**Well? Comments? Questions? Criticisms? I need them all. (Although I certainly prefer comments ;-) )**

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	5. Chapters 5, 6 and 7: Three Conversations

**Well, what a treat! Three chapter in one. Maybe I'm making up for not posting on this for simply ages!!!!! Very sorry but I got caught up in the Magical World of Harry Potter. Those people that have read the books will know what I mean. You can read my HP stories as well if you want.**

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**Anyway, I decided to put these three together for two reasons. One they are really really short chapters, and two they all take place roughly the same time, chapter seven a little bit after the other two but not by much. **

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**Chapter Five – A Trip To Maine – Sara and Nick **

      Hearing Nick sigh, Sara turned away from the view of the clouds and looked at him. Seeing her move, he stared back at her, smiled, then looked down. Sara knew just what he was thinking. The whole case rested on their shoulders, on them finding something at this guys house to help them find the killer. It weighed heavily on Sara's mind and she could see that it was on Nick's as well. She looked back out of the clouds for a moment, then checked her watch. They had about 20 minutes before they arrived in Maine.

      She turned up the sound on the headphones to hear some soft classical piece swoon out, and she closed her eyes. She'd been thinking about Grissom since they'd got on the plane. Their first meeting, their conversations about new techniques, evidence detection and everything else related to their jobs and interests. They were so alike in many ways, closed up, emotionally inept. She suspected that he used to be like she was now – so immersed in their jobs that their social/personal lives suffered. He seemed to have found a way around it, but she was still trying. She missed him, his voice, skills in the workplace, his company. Life wasn't the same at CSI Headquarters without him. She sighed, leaning her head back, thinking about all of the cases they'd worked on.

      Next to her Nick's thoughts were on the same subject. Grissom had helped him through so many cases and problems. He'd always wanted to do well for Grissom to be proud of him and Grissom had shown him that he didn't need to. That he had to do the work for himself and not anyone else. Nick knew now that Grissom was already proud of him for everything that he'd accomplished, and he was thankful to Gil for so many things. Including the time when he had the gun in his face by that hysterical woman, then when he'd been stalked. Things were suddenly put into perspective and Grissom had helped with that. He knew Grissom had his faults but what person doesn't. He was the father of their team and without him at work, there was a huge gaping hole that no-one could fill. Catherine was trying her best but they were big shoes to fill. 

      Nick knew that whatever they found in Portland was going to play a big part in the case and he was hoping and praying that they would find something to help them solve the case.

**Chapter Six – A Small Conversation – Catherine and Brass**

Brass walked down the corridors of the CSI to find Catherine in Grissom's office, staring at the jars on the shelves, her chin resting on her hand, elbow in the table, deep in thought. He knocked gently on the open door, shaking her out of her thoughts and she looked up.

      "Jim. Something up?"

      "No. Just thought I'd come and see how you were doing."

He said as he entered the room and sat down on the chair opposite her.

      "I'm doing okay. We just got a lead in Portland, I sent Nick and Sara over there to investigate. I knew they needed time away from the lab and this was a perfect opportunity."

      "They're not the only ones."

Brass stated. Catherine looked down at the desk.

      "I've got too much work to do to be taking time off."

      "I'm sure there are others that can take over."

      "To be honest I need to keep busy. If I stop then...I don't think I'll get started again."

Brass nodded in understanding. It was the same with him.

      "How's Jade holding up?"

      "She's hardly left his side. And when she does Warrick says she hardly sleeps. It's gonna be hard for her, considering what happened to her parents."

Not knowing the full details, and knowing Catherine wasn't in the mood to talk about it, Brass just nodded again in agreement.

      "And Warrick?"

      "I think he's put his own feelings aside to help Jade through. I should talk to him, give him some time away from the hospital as well."

      "I'll talk to him if you want. Then you can keep an eye on Jade."

Catherine shook her head.

      "Thanks but I think he'd talk more if it was me. But maybe you could sit with Jade for a while."

      "Sure. How's the case going anyway?"

He asked, changing the subject.

      "Not good. If Sara and Nick don't find anything then I'm worried that this is going to be another one of those cases that got away. We haven't got any other leads to follow."

      "Try not to worry too much. No matter how the case goes, it's Grissom that's important. Him recovering and getting better. All that matters is him pulling through."

Catherine thought for a moment, staring at Brass.

      "Thanks Jim."

      "Anytime. And I think you need to go and see Grissom for a while. I think it's what you need. I went to see him this morning and he's looking better. The doc's are saying that his sats are up which is a good sign that he's recovering physically. Have you seen him recently?"

      "I've been busy..."

She covered.

      "Go and see him. I mean it, straight after your shift. I'll go with you if you want."

She nodded her thanks.

**Chapter Seven – A Confession – Warrick and Jade**

Warrick looked over at where Jade was dozing in the chair across the room, and sighed. She was taking this so hard, and he felt completely at a loss at how to help her. He felt useless. It didn't help that he didn't know how to deal with the situation himself. In fact he  hadn't dealt at all, he'd been too busy looking after Jade.

      Grissom was more than just a boss to him. He was a teacher, a mentor, an almost father figure. He'd helped him through so many times – like his gambling problems. Where so many people would have just sacked him, Grissom gave him a second chance. He'd almost blown it but managed to pull himself back with his help, and Jade's. If it wasn't for Grissom he wouldn't be there now, he wouldn't have still been with Jade. His life would be completely different if it wasn't for Grissom.

      Feeling the emotions welling inside him he tried to clamp down on them to deal with them later but found it hard. A movement pulled him from his thoughts suddenly and he focused his eyes to see Catherine at the window, looking at Grissom. Forgetting his own problems he stood up and moved quietly out of the room.

      "Catherine?"

She turned to look at him.

      "Hey Warrick."

      "You okay?"

      "Yeah, I just...you know." 

She didn't have to finish the sentence for Warrick to realise she needed some time alone with Grissom. He nodded and moved back into the room with Catherine following. He gently nudged Jade awake and she looked up at him.

      "Hey honey. Time to go home."

She sat up in her seat and looked at Grissom.

      "No I'm fine. I'm staying here."

      "Jade, you need sleep. Look, Catherine's come to sit with Grissom so he won't be alone. Please come home."

Jade looked around to see Catherine standing there.

      "Hey Jade. I'll stay here and keep an eye on him. I promise."

Jade stood and moved over to Catherine, giving her a hug.

      "Thanks Cath."

She replied tiredly. She grabbed her coat and bag and left. Catherine turned to the bed and sat down on the seat Jade had vacated.

      Reaching home, Warrick led Jade inside, and made her go and get a shower, while he cooked some breakfast. By the time she finished her shower, breakfast was cooked if a little burnt. His mind had been elsewhere. He watched as she came into the living room, wearing black cotton shorts and one of his shirts, and slumped down onto the couch, pulling the towel off her short hair. 

      He stopped in the doorway and just stared. Something had suddenly hit him about her and it was taking a moment to process. It had hit him right in the heart but he couldn't work out what it was. The way she moved? Sat down? The way her short hair fell into her eyes when she pulled the towel off her head? The way his shirt looked on her? He couldn't pin point it to one thing. It was just everything about her. He leaned against the doorframe and watched her as she towel dried her hair, her eyes on the early morning news, but he knew she wasn't listening to a word of it. She had a distant look on her face.

      A thought suddenly occurred to him. It was when he'd been thinking about Grissom and chances. That if he'd have blown it he might not be with her now. Without warning he worked out what it was. He would miss her. He would miss her so badly it would hurt if she went away, or if she wasn't there at all. He suddenly couldn't stand to be without her for even a moment, and then, even when she was around his heart was aching to be next to her, holding her. His eyes widened as a thought hit him right between the eyes. Was this what it was like to be in love?

      "Warrick?"

He jumped, realising she'd said his name a couple times.

      "Something up? You looked miles away."

      "I love you."

He hadn't meant to say it. It had just come out of his mouth. And for the first time ever, he knew that he'd never meant anything more in his life. For a moment Jade looked completely shocked.

      "What?"

      "I can't help it. I...it just suddenly hit me. I love you."

She stood up and for a moment neither moved. They just stayed separate, staring at each other. Warrick had stood upright in the doorframe but he hadn't moved towards her. He was worried at what she'd say. Before he could open his mouth to apologise for the abruptness of his confession, she walked across to him, put her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug.

      "I love you too. I think I've always loved you. I just never knew it till now."

He sighed and held her tight to him, breathing in her smell.

**What did you think? Good? Bad? Comments would be welcome. Do you like where this is going? Do you have any clues as to where I'm taking this. I like to know.**


	6. Ch 8: Nothing Left To Burn

Wow!!! Two updates so close to one another! You are lucky!!! Suddenly got a bit of inspiration to actually write more of this story. For some reason I'm finding it harder to write than the last one. Hope it doesn't show. Chapter Eight – Nothing Left To Burn

Sara and Nick returned within the week from Portland. Daniel Elliot's next of kin was quite co-operative and seemed shocked and upset at the news of his death. Elliot's house took a lot of work to sort through as it was a complete mess. They found nothing that was any help except a small black book in the back of his closet. It held a list of names that were obviously his customers, and a code to where he was to meet each one. Other than that, the rest was rubbish. The local CSI team had been very helpful and had pretty much left them to it. They had both returned quite hopeful that the book would help them.

         There were 21 names in all in the book and each CSI was given seven names to look up. Catherine was given the job to go to the meeting places, or get Brass to sent some cops to the ones further a field to check them out. It took a long time to go through each of them, but once it was done they all gathered back into the evidence room, around the table, looking rather glum.

         "Okay Sara, you first."

Sara sighed.

         "Nothing. Five dead – from overdoses and the other two had alibi's according to Brass when he talked to them."

Catherine merely nodded, not showing any emotion.

         "Nick?"

Nick's expression said it all.

         "Three dead, three alibi's and a cabbage from an overdose."

         "Warrick."

         "One dead, four alibi's and two 'cabbages'."

He replied using Nick's description.

         "What about you?"

Nick asked. Catherine shook her head.

         "They were all old rundown places that looked like he hadn't been there a while. Some had even been burnt down. There was nothing in them to suggest anyone had been there. I'd already figured it was an old book, otherwise he would have taken it with him. So whoever the killer was must have been in the new book, and must have taken it with him."

There was a long pause after that, as Catherine dropped her pen onto the table, defeated. No-one seemed willing to speak or voice what they all knew deep down. This was one that got away.

         "What now?"

Sara asked, breaking the silence. The others all looked up at her. Catherine shrugged, shaking her head slightly.

         "That's it. There's nothing left to burn."

She said quietly.

         "No. I won't accept that. We must have missed something."

Sara said determined.

         "Sara we've been through the evidence a dozen times or more."

Nick told her sadly.

         "No, we missed something. I won't accept that this is it. This is Grissom we're talking about, we can't just give up on his case."

She stood and stormed out of the room to collect the evidence they had. They watched her leave, then Nick and Warrick looked at Catherine.

         "It's your call. You're the boss."

         "I don't know where to go with this anymore. We've been through everything. I just don't see what else there is to go through. Have we really missed something?"

         "I don't think so." 

Warrick says.

         "And I think Sara knows it as well. She's put 100% into the evidence, she's been over it even more than us. She just needs time to realise that we can't win every case. It's just frustrating that out of all the cases the most important one is the one we can't carry on with."

         "Maybe one day we'll find something that will solve the case, but right now there are no more leads to this."

Warrick said.

         "And we all agree on this?"

Catherine asked sadly. They nodded.

         "And what about Sara?"

         "I'll go talk to her."

Nick said, standing up. Once he was gone Warrick and Catherine looked at each other.

         "What do you think we should tell Jade?"

Catherine asked.

         "I'll sit her down and tell her...the truth I guess. She'll understand. She knows what evidence can be like."

         "It's going to hit her hard though."

         "Yeah. I'll go and tell her now. The sooner the better I think."

Catherine nodded and followed him out. She found Brass heading towards her as she walked to her office.

         "How's things? Any leads?"

He asked, following her into the office and sitting down with her.

         "Nothing."

         "So...?"

         "So that's it. Case Pending. Unsolved."

Brass nodded.

         "Grissom would understand you having to move on to another case you know."

He said, understanding part of why Catherine was so down heartened. 

         "I know. When he goes through the evidence he'll come to the same conclusion, but I still feel awful about it. If it was one of us he'd have done everything he could to find the killer."

         "And you did. There is nothing else for you to do. You guys have all put your lives on hold since Grissom was injured. It's time to move on. Grissom will pull through this, you've got to believe that. And you've got to carry on – there are other people out there that need you."

Catherine gave the Officer a small smile and concurred with a small nod. Standing up, she picked up a small piece of card with the case file name and number, and a small description on it, and moved over to Grissom's fish board, pinning it up carefully on the fishes fin. She took a breath, turned around and moved on.

*****

Nick entered the lab to find Sara next to the table, all the evidence – photo's, lab reports, bags with physical evidence in – scattered across the table where they'd left it. She was just sitting there staring at it all.

         "Sara?"

         "I know, I know. It's just hard to accept. There's four of us, and all this evidence and we just can't find that damn clue that will give us everything."

         "Yeah, it's an arse isn't it."

He said sitting next to her.

         "I just didn't want to let Grissom down, you know?"

         "And you haven't. He'll appreciate everything you've done and that's still more than you even needed to do. You've put 110% into this case and it's going to be hard but you have to let it go. The main thing is Grissom's still alive and each day he's getting a little better. There's every chance that he'll pull out of this."

         "You're right. I know you're right. And I guess...one day maybe we'll have the ability and evidence to solve this, unfortunately it's not now."

She looked down and Nick reached across and put an arm around her shoulder.

         "It'll be okay."

         "Yeah. Suppose we'd better go and get our next case from Catherine."

Sara said.

         "Let's pack this away first though."

Nick said, leaning over to grab the case file box. Then slowly the sorted through the evidence and packed it away neatly. The box was then taken to the storage room and placed, up on top of one of the shelves.

         Heading back to the break room they found Catherine in there with Warrick. Sara smiled at them and took a seat one the sofa next to Catherine.

         "So, you got a new case for us?"

         "Yeah. You and Nick have a homicide down on the strip. We've got a body found in the desert."

She said gesturing to herself and Warrick. Sara and Nick nodded, taking the folder and left the room. Catherine took a breath.

         "Ready?"

Warrick asked her.

         "Ready."

She replied.

Questions/comment? Reviews very welcome.


	7. Ch 9: Waking Moments

**Hey guys. Very very sorry this has taken me so long to do. I was having trouble writing – damn Muse wasn't playing ball. I knew what I wanted to write and I know where the story is going but I just couldn't get it down on paper – I hate days like that. All my Muse wanted to do was play in Harry Potter land. Anyway, *Slaps wrist* I'll try and be a good girl and write some more and not leave big gaps between writing this.**

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**Anonymous: Thank you for the reply. G/C romance? There's a sort of romance between them but it's hard to explain what I've done so you'll just have to wait and read. I don't want to give any secrets away yet!******

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**Jnp****: Thank you!!!! You made my day when I read this. I'm glad you think I have guts for doing stories like this, I wasn't sure what people would think. ******

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**G/C Fan: Thank you for your comments, very much appreciated. ******

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**Barb: Sorry for making you wait! Hope you can forgive me, and I hope you like this small instalment. ******

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**Leddy****: Well, here ya are, Grissom slowly recovering. Got a logn way to go yet though. ;-)******

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**And a huge thanks to everyone else who has reviewed this so far. I'll mention you in the next chapter if you review my work, pretty please?******

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**Anyway, here's another chapter for all you guys out there and please please review because I'd like to know what you think. It still has quite a way to go yet!******

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**Chapter Nine – Waking Moments******

Two weeks later...

            Things have changed so much since the day Jade arrived back in Las Vegas. That was a month ago now and Jade was trying to move on with her life. She was now practically living with Warrick; was working part time at the lab and was trying not to spend all her free time at the hospital. She'd been coping quite well so far but today wasn't going to be a good day and she knew it. It was her Graduation day.

            Picking up the two mugs of coffee, she moved into the living area and handed Warrick his mug. She slumped down on the couch next to him, putting her mug on the table and curled up beside him. He put his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder slowly. They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, Warrick reading the paper as he sipped his drink. Jade sat there looking out of the window.

            "I can't believe it's my Graduation today."

            "Mm?" He looked up from the paper. "Oh."

He wasn't sure what to say to that.

            "But it wouldn't have been right without Grissom there."

            "Well, maybe when Grissom's better we can have a little graduation party of our own. And you know you've still graduated even though you're not there."

            "I know. It's just that he'd have been so proud – seeing me standing up there receiving it officially."

            "He's already proud – with or without the Ph.D. He was always proud of you. Just like I am."

Jade smiled and let him pull her back in.

            "You know I love you, right?"

            "I know – you've told me about 20 times a day for the past two weeks." She joked. "Don't stop."

She told him.

            "I love you." She smiled. "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I Lo – "

She punched him playfully in the chest, laughing. He grabbed her and wrestled her onto her back on the couch, laughing with her. Pinning her down he looked her in the eye.

            "I love you."

He whispered seriously. She smiled gently at him again.

            "I love you too."

She lifted her head and kissed him.

*****

Dr. Jack Martins looked down at his list of patients for the next in line, said goodbye to Mrs. Caldwell with the heart defect, and left the room. He moved down the corridor, checking his notes on Gil Grissom briefly before entering his room.

            "Good afternoon Mr. Grissom – how are we today?"

He checked the machines and wrote a few notes down on the file.

            "Same as normal I see. Well, at least you're not any worse."

He was just turning around to leave when a small movement caused him to stop. Grissom's finger had moved. He looked up to see his eyes flutter.

            "Well, it certainly took you long enough. Welcome back into the land of the living, Mr. Grissom."

He smiled as Grissom's eyes opened for a moment.

            "Jade's gonna be ecstatic to see you awake at last."

Grissom's eyes moved to the silent moving mouth, then closed slowly, falling into a peaceful sleep.

*****

Jade was pulled from her dream by the sound of the phone ringing. She moaned and nudged Warrick who also moaned.

            "Phone."

She moaned again. He groaned in response.

            "You get it, I'm sleeping."

She hit him in the side and leaned across him to grab the phone.

            "Yeah...?"

She mumbled.

            "Jade? It's Jack. Jack Martins."

            "Jack?"

Suddenly she was wide awake, rubbing her eyes.

            "What is it? Is Gil okay? Is he alright?"

Warrick turned to look at her when she said her Godfathers name.

            "Jade – he woke up."

She sat bolt up.

            "What? Really? Is he okay? Has he said something?"

            "He's fine. He woke up for a moment, then fell asleep. He'll probably sleep for a while, but he is out of the coma."

Jade closed her eyes, an overwhelming relief sweeping through her.

            "Jade? Jade, what's going on?"

Warrick asked. She ignored him for the moment.

            "We'll be there soon."

She put the phone down before the doctor could reply. Warrick looked expectantly at her, waiting for an answer.

            "Gil woke up. He's out of the coma."

Warrick looked relieved and watched Jade jump out of the bed and grab her jeans, then followed at a slower pace.

            "What else did they say?"

            "Not much. Just that he woke and now he's sleeping."

She quickly ran a brush through her hair and pulled it back. 

Within five minutes they were both ready and Warrick grabbed his keys.

            "I'll drive."

He told her. She didn't argue and jumped into the passenger seat. 

            They made it to the hospital in record time and Warrick had to power walk to keep up with Jade as she marched down the corridors and up the stairs after getting impatient because she had to wait more than ten seconds for the lift.

            "Jack!"

Jade suddenly shouted, spotting the Doctor coming out of a nearby room. He jumped slightly and turned, giving her a smile when he realised who it was.

            "How is he? Is he alright? Is he awake yet?"

She questioned him without breath. Jack put his hand up to silence her.

            "Calm down, he's fine. He's still asleep which is something he's likely to do a lot of over the next few days – but he is out of the coma. We've still got a few tests to perform but him waking up is a very good sign. But we won't know about his mental state yet."

Jade looked hopeful, even though she knew the risks of brain damage from the coma.

            "Can we go sit with him?"

Jack nodded.

            "Sure you can. If he wakes, just press the call button."

Jade nodded and, grabbing Warrick's hand she pulled him down the corridor towards Grissom's room.

            She entered to see that some of the equipment had gone. He was no longer on life support, and he just had a mask over his face rather than the large tube down his throat. She smiled at being able to see more of his face than she had done in weeks and took the seat right next to the bed as usual. Warrick stood behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.

            "I'll go and call the others, tell them the good news."

She merely nodded, her gaze never leaving her guardian, and he smiled and left.

*****

Hearing the phone ring, Catherine strode into the office and picked it up.

            "Willows."

            "Hey Cath, it's Warrick."

She could hear the smile in his voice, and felt a small spring of hope bounce in her stomach.

            "Hey Warrick, something up?"

            "Grissom's out of the coma. He woke up about an hour ago, we're down at the hospital now."

Catherine's stomach completely flipped and she beamed.

            "Is he ok? Has he said anything yet?"

            "No, he's sleeping right now. The Doc said he'd do that a lot."

            "But he'll be ok?"

            "They said it's a good sign that he's awake but they don't know how he is properly yet. Mentally I mean. But he's woken up and that's the main thing."

            "You'll let us know when he wakes, right? Tell us how's he's doing?"

            "Of course I will."

            "Thanks, I'd better go and tell the others – they'll be so pleased."

            "I'm sure they will. Laters."

            "Bye."

She hung up and headed to the lab to find the others. She spotted Nick and Sara inside with Greg and entered. 

            "Hey Cath."

Sara said, glancing at her, then turning back to Greg.

            "He woke up."

Catherine said, unable to keep the news to herself. They all stared at her for a moment before Nick replied.

            "Grissom? He's awake?!"

            "Well, he's out of the coma, but the Doc's say he'll sleep for a while. They don't know the full extent of his mental state yet but it's a good sign that he woke up."

Sara yelped with happiness and hugged Catherine, who looked stunned for a moment but returned the hug. Greg and Nick high-fived.

            "He's going to be okay."

Sara smiled as she pulled away from Cath. 

            "Yes he is."

She smiled back.

**There ya are. More coming sooner than last time, I hope!!!!!**


	8. Ch 10: An Undecided Future

**I know, I know. Another big gap between updating!!! I don't mean to honest, I'm just having problems of late getting into CSI. But now that the new series has started I should be okay soon. At least this gap wasn't as big as the last gap. Hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm having doubts about the whole thing – not because of the story but because I don't think my writing is doing it justice at the moment. But please keep reading and l;et me know what you think of the story.**

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**Leddy: The anxiety wait should be over now I hope. Thanks for the review. **

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**Barb: Hope you're just as happy to see this update!**

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**Jnp: Unfortunately I don't think this chapter is very uplifting but I think it's a little longer than the last!**

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**G/C Fan: Yay! He is awake! But you'll have to wait a little longer to see what I've done with G/C. It's nothing major but it made me giggle to think about it Anyway…on with the story!!!**

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**Chapter Ten – An Undecided Future**

                Hearing a slight rustle Jade looked up to see Grissom's head turn slowly, making the pillow crisply crunch. Jade sat up and leaned forwards.

                "Gil? Warrick he's waking up."

Warrick shook his head out of his light doze and looked down at Grissom.

                "Hey Grissom."

He said as he watched Grissom's eyes slowly flutter open against the light that was hurting his eyes. Jade leaned over to the headboard and pressed the call button. She took Grissom's hand in hers and smiled at him.

                "Hey Gil, good to see you awake."

A few moments later Jack entered with a nurse. Jade looked over at him.

                "He's awake."

Jack moved to the bed.

                "Gil? Gil, can you hear me? Squeeze Jade's hand if you can."

Jade felt his hand tighten in hers and she smiled and nodded.

                "Good, that's good. My name's Dr. Martin and your in Desert Palm Hospital. Do you remember what happened to you? Squeeze her hand if you do."

She didn't feel anything and she shook her head at him.

                "Ok, that's to be expected. You've been in a coma, and we need to do a few tests if that's ok."

Jade nodded again as she felt him squeeze her hand. Then he opened his mouth as if he wanted to speak. Jack gently moved the mask from his face.

                "What…happened?"

He managed to croak out, his voice sounding rough and unused. Jack looked to Jade to answer.

                "You were at a crime scene, but the perpetrator returned and you were shot."

He frowned.

                "Crime scene?"

He whispered, tiredly. She nodded.

                "Yeah. You were covering part of the day shift and working alone. The cop at the warehouse doors was taken by surprise. You didn't stand much of a chance. You were lucky."

Grissom frowned, looking confused. He honestly didn't seem to know what she was talking about. A worried look crossed Jack's face and he leaned closer.

                "Gil? Can you tell me your full name?"

Jade looked up at him quickly, as if suddenly shocked, then back at Gil. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, then slowly replied.

                "Gil...Grissom."

Jade smiled a little. Jack nodded.

                "Good...and can you tell me her name?"

He pointed at Jade. She smiled as his gaze moved to her face. But he merely stared at her, the blank look scaring her. There was no recognition in his eyes...nothing.

                "I'm sorry...no."

Jade looked shocked and for a moment looked on the verge of tears but Gil looked up at her again and she smiled slightly.

                "My name's Jade." She told him, then glanced up at Jack who was giving her a warning look. "I'm a friend."

Jack nodded to her reply, then turned back to Grissom.

                "Can you tell me where you live?"

                "...No..."

                "Where you work?"

                "...No..."

Fear swept into his face and he looked up at the Doctor.

                "I don't remember anything...who am I?"

His voice quivered uncharacteristic and Jade felt her heart leap into her throat.

                "Gil, calm down. It's going to be okay. You've been in a coma for quite a few weeks – there's likely to be some temporary memory loss. It's normal. It will return to you in time. Now I want you to get some more rest, okay?"

He nodded and suddenly looked very tired. He closed his eyes and Jack gestured for Jade to follow him. Warrick followed the both of them into the corridor while the nurse got Gil comfortable.

                "Jack?"

Jade questioned.

                "Jade, we knew that this was a possibility. Some memory loss was to be expected. I admit I wasn't expecting it to be to this extent but it could have been a lot worse. He remembers his name which is a good start – it means that the information is there somewhere – we just have to help him find it."

Jade looked away and down the corridor.

                "Jade? Jade?" She looked at him. "We need to stay positive, okay? Gil is going to need you now more than ever. And the more time you spend with him – talking to him – the more hope he has of recovery."

Jade nodded.

                "I know you're right, it's just...we've waited all this time and he doesn't even know me."

                "I know it seems bad right now, but he will get better. It could have been so much worse – he might never have woken up for a start, and at first we didn't think he was even going to survive but he has. Okay?"

Jade gave him a smile.

                "Okay."

Jack gave her a smile back.

                "He'll sleep for a while now so I suggest you go home and get some rest, come back tomorrow morning."

                "Thanks Jack."

He nodded and walked away. Jade stood there for a moment and Warrick could see her fighting her emotions so he moved over and gave her a hug.

                "He'll be alright. It is Grissom after all."

                "I know."

                "Come on, lets go home."

She nodded and he led her back into the room to get their things.

*****

Leaving Jade sleeping at home, Warrick headed back to CSI to give the others the grave news. As he entered he bumped into Brass leaving.

                "Hey Warrick, great news about Gil, eh?"

He said smiling. When Warrick didn't return the smile Brass' smile vanished from his face.

                "What's happened?"

                "Grissom woke up a few hours ago. And he can't remember anything."

                "About the accident? That's to be expected, right?"

                "No, I mean everything. All he could recall was his name."

Brass looked downhearted. 

                "Well, what do the doctor's say?"

                "They said that it's worse than they first thought but that knowing his own name is a start. It'll just take a lot of time."

Brass nodded.

                "Well, at least he's woken up. It's a start."

Warrick agreed.

                "How's Jade holding up? She still at the hospital?"

                "No, she's getting some rest back at home. She seems to be taking it okay, but it was a bit of a shock at first. I was just on my way to tell the others, thought I'd better tell them in person."

                "Let me know if you hear anything, I've got some work to be doing in my office, laters."

He said and left. Warrick wandered through the offices, lab and break-room but didn't find anyone. Sticking his head into Greg's lab he asked if he'd seen any of the night shift.

                "Sara and Nick are out on the field and I think Cath's down in the Morgue. Why?"

                "Grissom woke up, but he's got amnesia. He can only remember his name."

                "Seriously?"                           

Warrick nodded.

                "Woah, that's heavy."

                "Yeah. Anyway I'd better go and tell Cath. If you see Nick and Sara can you let them know?"

                "Sure."

Warrick thanked him and left. Finding Cath down in the Morgue with Dr. Robbins, he gave them the grave news. Doc Robbins merely nodded and took it with what seemed like a pinch of salt, Cath however looked shocked and couldn't believe the news. Warrick knew that she was probably the closest of them to Grissom, having known him for over 10 years.

                She followed Warrick back up to her office where they bumped into Sara and Nick.

                "Is it true?" Sara asked straight away. "What Greg's told us?"

Warrick nodded and they all stood in a stony silence for a moment.

                "The Doctor's told us it was a possibility, but they weren't expecting it to the extent that it was. They did say that it was a good sign that he knows his name because it means the rest of the information is there somewhere, it's just got to be unlocked."

                "This is so unfair. Why Gris?"

Sara questioned.

                "Why anyone?"

Cath said, then walked away on her to own, heading for her temporary office. She obviously needed to be alone.

                "You guys better get back to work." Warrick told them. "I gotta get back to Jade."

                "How's she taking it?"

                "She seems to be holding up okay, but I don't know, she hasn't really said much yet."

                "She'll be alright, she's got Grissom's logic."

Warrick laughed slightly at that.

                "You're right there."

*****

The next day, feeling a little more refreshed, Jade took a breath and walked into Grissom's room. He was awake and he turned his head to look at her. She gave him a smile as she put her bag down.

                "How are you doing today?"

                "Okay I guess. I'm sorry...but I can't remember your name."

Jade inwardly saddened at the question, but hid it as she gave him a smile.

                "It's Jade. You mind if I sit?"

                "Please do."

He said eagerly. He pulled himself up carefully into a seated position as Jade took off her coat and sat down.

                "The Doctor said someone who knows me would be coming in today. He said you would help me with the questions I have. I feel really strange and lost not knowing anything. Will you help me?"

                "Sure. What do you want to know?"

                "Could you just start with my family, my parents and stuff."

She nodded.

                "Your mother lives in Nevada – near Lake Tahoe. Your father died a long time ago. You were an only child. I think you have some aunts and uncles but I don't think you're that close to them."

                "I guessing that I'm not married – not having seen a or heard about a wife or anything."

                "No."

                "And what about you?"

                "Me? I'm your God-daughter. You were best friends with my father – went to College together, worked together."

                "Were?"

                "He died, when I was eight, with my mother. I lived with my aunt and uncle but it was you that raised me. You're like a father to me."

He looked rather flattered and embarrassed.

                "Sorry. Didn't mean to embarrass you but you wanted to know."

                "I'm glad there seems to be someone out there I'm close to."

Jade smiled but didn't say anything. It sounded like a strange thing coming from Gil's mouth.

                "I wouldn't say we were close close, but we had an understanding. You were never very open with your feelings and that worked for you."

                "But not for you?"

He asked hearing an unanswered remark.

                "You are who you are and I love you for that. I knew how you felt deep down, you just never said it that often."

                "Oh."

She noticed the look on his face.

                "Oh, no I didn't mean you were completely closed down or anything – you weren't. If fact you could be very sweet sometimes in your own way. You just liked to keep yourself to yourself. You have this air of mystery about you – people are always trying to work you out but can't and I think that amuses you."

That seemed to satisfy him and he continued.

                "What about friends? You mentioned your father but..."

He left the sentence unfinished.

                "You have a few good friends – work colleagues. And a few friends around the country in the same profession, that you get along well with. I think Catherine would probably be one of the closest. You've known her around 11 years and she's like the second in command under you. Then there's Warrick, Nick and Sara who you work with as well. There's Jim Brass – he's a homicide detective who used to work at the Lab, David Robbins – he works down in the Morgue – you've known him for a quite a while as well, um...I guess they would be the main friends and then there's practically everyone else at the Lab who knows you and you talk to them. There's Greg for one – he mainly just gets on your nerves a lot but you like him really." She smirked. "He's just...different."

Grissom looked confused for a moment, thinking to himself.

                "Something wrong?"

                "No-one's actually told me what I do. You've mentioned labs, crime scenes, Morgues. What do I do exactly?"

                "You're a forensic scientist. You investigate crime scenes – everything from robberies to homicides to the down-right massacres, you search for evidence and clues, process evidence found on the victims to try to work out what happened and who did it. Kind of like the Cluedo of life I guess."

She smiled.

                "Sounds interesting...although rather morbid. Dead bodies?"

She nodded.

                "Although you've found worse than that."

                "How can there be worse than dead bodies?"

                "Parts of dead bodies, half rotten corpses, liquidised corpses. I can remember Sara telling me about a corpse they found in a hold-all. It was pretty much human soup."

Grissom went green with the thought and Jade looked shocked and tried to back-track.

                "Sorry. I wasn't thinking."

                "No, no. I guess I got used to it once, I can get used to it again."

Jade laughed.

                "I don't think Sara got used to that one – that's usually as worse as they get, decomposed wise. Although I can remember some stories you grossed me out with. I almost didn't want to be a CSI after that."

She smiled at the memory.

                "You're a CSI?"

                "Not yet. I've just graduated from the University of California with a Ph.D. in Biology and Forensic Science. I was going to take some time out then find a lab to join. I was hoping to get into the Las Vegas lab so I could work with you."

He was about to open his mouth to comment on that, when a knock at the door interrupted him. They both turned to see Warrick stick his head in.

                "It okay if I come in?"

He asked. Jade nodded, then turned back to Gil as Warrick entered.

                "Gil, this is Warrick. He's one of the CSI's you work with. You've known him; what? A few years?"

                "Yeah. You're my mentor, you've taught me pretty much everything I know."

He said smiling. Stepping closer to Jade he bent down and they gave each other a quick kiss, before he moved away to sit on the other side of the bed.

                "You two are together?"

Grissom asked.

                "Oh, yeah – forgot to mention that." She said with a smile. " Warrick and I have been going out for a few years now. It's been off and on because I was down in California doing my Ph.D. but now that I'm back it's kind of a permanent thing."

She smiled over at Warrick and he smiled back. 

                Grissom then proceeded to question Warrick about everything, before he became quickly tired and went to sleep. He awoke later to find Jade and Warrick gone and three strangers sitting in the room.

                "Hey Gil."

The blonde one closest to him said, smiling at him. He looked to her, noticing the other two look over from their conversation by the window.

                "I'm Catherine. Cath. Jade said she'd told you about me?"

                "She said we were close friends, yeah."

Cath smiled at that.

                "We sure are. This is Sara and Nick."

                "Hey Gris."

Nick said to him.

                "How you doing?"

Sara asked him.

                "I'm doing okay. Other than the small fact that I can't remember anything."

He said lightly, a slight laughter playing in his throat. They all smiled sympathetically at him. 

                "Well, we're here for you in any way we can so if you've got any questions we're happy to answer them."

                "Thanks. I really just wanna know about you guys. Who you all are, how I know you all, how close we are. Because I feel like I'm staring at a bunch of strangers."

Cath could see Nick and Sara were having a hard time with this very open Grissom. In fact she was finding it very strange but she was just glad that he was awake and he was okay save for the memory loss.

                They answered all his questions as best they could and introduced him to Jim Brass and Al Robbins when they dropped in after their shifts. By the end of the day Gil felt exhausted but a lot more knowledgeable about himself and the people around him and he was able to fall asleep a little bit lighter that night. 

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**There ya are!!! That'll hopefully leave you wanting more!!!! God knows when the next update will be. I know what's happening in the next chapter but I just haven't written it yet. I have a paragraph of to do's I need to put into it!!! Laters people.**


	9. Ch 11: The Greatest Man I Never Knew

**I know I know!!!!! Again, very sorry for the wait. Took me a while to get into this chapter and I still don't think I'm doing the story justice – there's so much more I could do with this but I can't get into it, I have to admit I had an easier time writing the end of this chapter, I wonder if it shows. Anyways, I'll let you get on with reading it now. TTFN**

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**Leddy: Thank you very much for the review. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Hope you enjoy this chapter as well.**

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**Barb8: Thank you!!!!!!! Early Christmas pressie – I'm happy that you thought so. Here – here's a mince pie to go with your Christmas pressie. Don't worry I didn't make it myself so you won't get poisoned or anything!!! I'd never kill off one of my loyal readers!!!!! Enjoy the chapter.**

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**Chapter Eleven – The Greatest Man I Never Knew**

Time seemed to move very slowly for Jade over the next two weeks. She spent nearly all of her hours of everyday with Gil in the hospital. Answering his questions, watched as he took all the information in, processed the answers she'd given him, become louder and more opinionated about himself and his whereabouts. She'd noticed that most of the questions were about himself, friends or family and he never asked much about his work, his career – his life. When she'd asked him he merely said he wasn't interested in that at the moment, needed to process who he was before he worked on what he did. She found that strange from her point of view because to her his work was him, and he was his work. But from his point of view it probably didn't seem that important, he seemed to see it as a job he'd picked for some reason, other than it being who he was to put other people's puzzles of life and death together. She'd tried to reason with him about it and he'd just told her,

                "Knowing what I do for a living won't help me understand who I am."

                "I can understand that you might think that, but a huge part of you is in your work. You are your job and your life revolves around it – it makes you who you are. And who you are is a good man dedicated to helping others. Someone who inspires other people to do what you do, and what you do isn't easy."

She told him gently, patiently. He just nodded at that but didn't say anything.

                "Look, I'd better go and let you rest. I'll be back in the morning, okay?"

He smiled.

                "Sure. See you tomorrow."

She nodded a goodbye and left quietly. Outside the room she paused before heading towards the exit, then turned and headed for Jack's office. He was sitting in there doing some paperwork and invited her in immediately, asking her how she thought Gil was doing.

                "I know you told me it would take a long time but something isn't right. He's acting completely differently. He's not who he used to be, not even slightly. He's louder, more opinionated and not in the way he used to be. Sometimes he even looks like he's laughing about what I'm telling him he's like. It's like I'm talking to a stranger."

Jack could see that the strain was showing on Jade. The other CSI's had been very busy and she'd been shouldering most of the burden of helping Grissom on her own. He hadn't known Grissom before so he didn't know what he used to be like but from what she'd told him about her God-father he was at that moment, being arrogant, difficult and pretentious  - traits she hadn't come close to describing about him.

                "Jade, try not to worry. He's just trying to find who he is and he may go through a lot of changes before he gets there. Keep doing what you're doing, keep being patient. I was thinking, physically he's probably able to leave the hospital so maybe in a few days you could take him home, show him where he lives, where he works. It may trigger something that talking to him won't."

                A small pang of hope sprang up inside her at the idea and she agreed. They planned to take him out of the hospital in two days where she'd take him home for a while, then into work, before taking him back to the hospital. 

*****

Two days later, Warrick joined Jade in wheeling Grissom out of the hospital and to the car. Even though he moaned that he could walk, it was hospital policy to wheel patients out of the hospital. He carefully got into the car and they headed through Las Vegas to his home. Pulling up he got out of the car and looked at the building in front of him.

                "I live here?"

                "Yeah. This is your home. You've lived here for as long as I can remember."

He 'hm'ed and walked up to the door and waited for Jade to unlock it. She gestured for him to enter and he strolled in and looked about the place. His expression was blank for a moment as he watched Jade pick up the mail that had arrived, search through it as she headed through towards the kitchen area, before putting them on the kitchen counter with a huge pile of other letters. She turned to look at him standing there in the middle of the room, looking about at the furniture, the books, the cases of bugs, insects and the like on the walls.

                "Well...?"

She asked him, wondering if anything seemed familiar.

                "It's...sparse."

                "That's how you like it. Ordered, no clutter. Anything seem familiar?"

He took another long gaze around the room, then looked back at her.

                "Nope. Nothing. Just a room. Doesn't look lived in – are you sure I've lived here a long time? I can't see myself living here – it's like a museum. Is the whole place the same?"

He wandered off down the corridor to look. Jade looked over at Warrick who was still by the front door and he could see her shoulders lower in disappointment. He gave her an encouraging smile.

                "Jack said it would take time. It may not trigger anything now but it might later."

He told her. She gave him a nod and small smile, then planted a slightly bigger fake smile on her face as Grissom came back from the other rooms.

                "Whole place is sparse. Suppose I could get used to it. Are we done here?"

                "If you are. Next place is work. I told the others we'd pop in and see them."

                "Ok doke."

He said in a matter of fact way, and walked back outside to the car. Warrick held the door open for Jade who headed over slowly, feeling herself slowly sinking into despair, but holding her head up for Grissom's sake.

                Reaching CSI headquarters they enter the building to loads of people greeting them, telling Grissom they're glad he's on his feet and happy to see him back at work. He merely gives them a small smile, staring at the strangers talking to him, but not saying anything back in return. Most of them don't notice but a few who knew him better gave him looks as he passed, knowing there's something wrong. Jade would give them smiles and nod, as if mentally telling them he's still not well, which they accepted. They showed him through the labs, at some of the evidence, down to the morgue, and the whole time he was completely silent except when he saw Cath, Sara, Nick, Jim or Al who he'd met a few times during his stay in hospital. Getting back to the lab she'd left Warrick in with Cath, she asked him what he thought.

                "It's really morbid."

He stated.

                "How do you mean?"

Jade asked.

                "Just that. You're all dealing with dead people. Why would you even want to go into something so morbid as to have to stare at corpses all day? I think it's funny that anyone would want to do a job like this."

Cath, Warrick and Greg looked shocked at the reply and waited to see what she said.

                "You did." She said quietly. "In fact there's a lot of people all over the country that went into this kind of work because of you. You made it interesting, fulfilling. After watching you at work, solving crimes, helping people have closure in death – I wanted to be here and do that."

                "So why didn't I just become a police officer. I'd be solving crimes there, helping people – and I wouldn't have to deal with corpses, blood or bugs."

Jade looked down at the floor, not knowing what to say.

                "You've been my role-model." Warrick told him suddenly. "If it wasn't for you I'd probably be dead through gambling because I'd got myself in debt with the wrong people."

                "And I'd probably have gone back to being an exotic dancer because I hadn't had you there to help me make it."

Catherine told him. She hadn't realised how different he'd become, not having been able to come and see him as much  as she'd wanted. He'd just hurt a lot of people with even realising. He'd become uncaring, scornful and it had shocked her.

                "There's something I didn't know. You had a gambling problem, and you used to be a stripper." Grissom said as if in thought. "Does everyone in this line of work have skeletons like that in their closet."

                "It's not like that!" Jade told him sharply. He turned to her. "We all got into this line of work because we wanted to help people in ways most others couldn't. We all had an interest in science and wanted to use it to help people. I wanted to become a CSI because of you. Because of my father. I wanted to help people have closure. "

                "Then you must be a really morbid person to want to do it this way."

Jade looked really upset at that remark and Catherine and Warrick looked shocked as they stared at Grissom. Jade stared down at the floor trying to compose her emotions. Failing, she said a quiet,

                "Excuse me."

And left the room.

                "No – wait – Jade!"

Warrick called after her as he followed her out. Catherine turned to stare at Grissom. He noticed after a moment.

                "What?"

He questioned.

                "That was way harsh, Gil. You should watch what you say around people, especially when you don't know the whole story."

She told him calmly, then turned and walked out, leaving him alone in the room.

                Meanwhile Warrick had caught up with Jade who had ran down the corridor, out the side entrance of the building and into the car park.

                "Jade – wait!"

He ran up behind her and, taking her shoulders, he pulled her to a gentle stop. She turned and pushed him away, trying to stop the tears falling. He stopped moving.

                "Oh Jade."

She puts her hands up to her face and shook her head.

                "It's not him. It's not him."

She stared sobbing. Warrick pulled her in and rocked her gently. From inside, Grissom watched through the window in the lab at the scene, frowning.

*****

Catherine was back at her desk working when Jade knocked on her door and entered.

                "Hey Cath, where's Gil? He has to get back to the hospital to rest."

                "Last time I saw him he was still in the lab."

Jade nodded and sat down. Cath could see something was playing on her mind and waited.

                "It's not fair."

She said quietly after a long silence.

                "You know he didn't mean it." Catherine told her. "He doesn't know what happened to your parents, remember that."

                "I know. It's just. Everything was going so well. Why did this have to happen to him? Now? He's such a strong person, I don't understand."

Catherine stood up and walked around the desk to sit on the front of it. Putting a hand on Jade's shoulder she gave it a squeeze, and trying to put it as gently as possibly, she said,

                "Sometimes the stronger they are, the smarter they are...the harder they fall."

She let this sink in before continuing.

                "He'll get better. It's going to take some time. But you need to know, need to face up to the fact that he might never be the Grissom we all know. You just have to be thankful that he's alive and well, and even if he never comes back to the job he's still around – and he's still your God-father and he's going to have to face up to that fact. He's going to have to understand everything that's happened between you two – you have to make him understand the bond you two had and he'll have to reform it for the both of you. But the only way he can do that is if he knows everything. It's going to be the same for all of us. Maybe not as much as the others but for you and me, it's going to be a long process."

Jade looked up at her, understanding her words, knowing what she had to do.

                "Thanks Cath."

She sat up and pulled her into a hug.

                "Your welcome."

Hearing a knock at the door, they pulled away and turned to see Gil standing behind it, looking in. 

                "Come in Gil."

Cath told him. He opened the door and looked through.

                "Um...we should be getting back."

He said awkwardly. Jade nodded and stood.

                "Remember what I said."

Catherine smiled to her. Jade gave her a smile and nod back, then turned and left with Gil.

                He followed her down the corridors and out the main entrance, trying to think of something to say to her since she seemed to have nothing to say to him. As they reach the car he spoke up.

                "Jade."

She turned and looked at him. 

                "Yeah?"

                "I'm sorry for what I said. It was wrong of me, it's just...it's confusing – I can't remember anything I've just seen. None of it makes sense and I guess it kinda got to me. I'm sorry if I hurt you. I didn't mean to."

                "It's okay. I should have mentioned some things to you that I haven't yet. I guess I'm still not ready to."

He nodded to that and got in the car. They drove in a more comfortable silence back to the hospital where she got him settled and left to get some sleep of her own.

**Well, another chapter over with. I think I'm going to go and start the next one straight away while I'm in the mood. Laters people.**


	10. Ch 12: A Touch In The Darkness

**Hey guys. Here's another chapter for ya. It was meant to be slightly longer but I decided to stop it there so that I could post it a little bit sooner. **

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**Leddy: I'm glad you find Grissom interesting, I've wanted to write a weird alternate Grissom for a while to see what would happen. Ghope you enjoy the rest.**

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**Barb8: Don't you worry, all things must come to an end sometime, whether good or bad – just keep on reading! He he!**

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**Chapter Twelve – A Touch In The Darkness.**

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Another three weeks passed and finally time seemed to have speeded back up. It seemed only yesterday since Grissom was first let out of the hospital to see his home, his work. Few memories had returned in that time and Jade was slowly getting used to the fact that she may never get her Grissom back. Everyone at work had already partly moved on, in being able to work without him there. In fact when she went into help, it was like he had never been there at times. New work colleagues, new technicians had arrived – none of them having ever heard of Gil Grissom. Catherine and the others spoke of him often though, saw him as much as they could. Cath had tried to keep the work environment as similar to how Grissom had had it, because that was what they were all used to working under. 

            Grissom had been out of hospital two days now. The doctors had pronounced him healthy enough physically and mentally to cope with being home. He had regular trips to the hospital three times a week to see a counsellor and psychiatrist about his amnesia problems but other than that he was a free man so to speak. Jade had let him have the two days alone as that was what he had wanted, but on this third morning he had asked to be taken into work to see Cath for a bit, so picking up her bags and car keys she jumped in the car with Warrick, dropped him off at work and headed for Grissom's townhouse. 

            Knocking on the door, he opened it almost immediately and let her in. She entered with a smile, then stopped as she stared around at the unfamiliar surroundings. He'd completely changed everything about. It looked really homely and slightly un-ordered. The bugs had gone from the walls and had been replaced with other photo's and pictures, of family and friends mostly. Piles of books stood on the table as if he'd been sorting through them, the shelves only holding a quarter of what they usually did. A few dirty dishes from the night before stood on the kitchen unit – something she'd never ever expected to see. Grissom was always so clean and precise with things like that. She turned to him.

            "You've been busy."

He nodded. 

            "Yeah...I felt uncomfortable with it how it was. I felt I couldn't touch anything, like it wasn't mine. So I changed it."

He said with his familiar half shrug of the shoulders and smile.

            "There's a few books on the table that aren't any use to me – thought you might like them. A lot of them have another guy's name in – I presume they used to belong to your father."

She nodded a yes as she stepped further in and stared around. 

            "Oh, I uh...called work last night. I'm uh...not going back."

            "Oh...right."

She turned away, feeling her hopes dashed for a moment before she composes herself. 

            "I thought I'd have a try at something different, you know."

She nodded but he could see something wasn't right. She seemed upset.

            "What's wrong?"

He asked her. She turned, a fake smile plastered on her face.

            "Nothing, it's nothing." She knew she wasn't going to hide her disappointment so she decided to tell him. Tell him everything. "It's just...that thing from before...that thing you didn't know about. It kind of involved my parents."

            "They died, right?"

She nodded, taking a seat at the table and flicking through one of the books she knew had belonged to her father.

            "Um...well you see they were murdered." Grissom looked shocked but didn't say anything. "And you tried for months to find out what had happened but we never found out who did it. We never had any closure. We managed to live with it all these years, but it's been really hard."

He nodded, understanding at last what motivated her through this life.

            "I'm sorry. I didn't know, I just figured they died in a car accident or something. What happened? If you don't mind me asking."

He added quickly.

            "No, that's fine. I can talk about it now. They'd promised me that I could go to the cinema this one night but they were too busy working so you said you'd do it. When we got back we found the front door hanging open and...you made me wait there but being a curious kid, I followed. They'd been shot through the head, down in the basement. I went into shock after that and really don't remember much else – I was only 8. That's all we know about it."

            "I'm sorry."

            "For what? You got me through it all. I've been thankful to have you in my life all this time, and I'm hoping you still want the job."

            "Of course I want it. You're the closest thing I have to family around here."

She smiled.

            "Thanks. Come on, lets get down to CSI."

*****

Leaving Gil outside his old office, now Cath's, she told him she had some work to do and people to see and headed off alone. Knocking on the door he heard Cath admit him and he entered smiling.

            Meanwhile Greg was heading up to the roof. He reaches the last steps and looks up to see that the door is open. He knows that this means only one thing – someone is already up there. He looks out to see Jade standing near the edge facing away from the door and out over the city. One arm is wrapped around her front and the other is hanging by her side. Greg watches as she brings it up to her mouth and then realises that she has a cigarette in her hand.

            "I didn't know that you smoked."

He said moving closer. She turned and looked at the speaker, then smiled when she saw Greg coming closer to her.

            "I don't."

Greg's eyebrows raised and he looked towards the smoking stick in her hand. She realised how dumb her reply had been and smiled.

            "I have one every couple of months or so. I find they calm the nerves. What about you – what are you doing up here?"

Greg presented sandwiches and smiled.

            "I found that I was always getting disturbed for results down in the break room so I come up here."

He sat down on the ledge and placed the sandwiches on his lap to unwrap them.

            "Good idea. People do tend to crowd around you for results don't they."

            "Yeah. So, calm the nerves eh? The whole Grissom thing finally taking it's toll?"

Jade laughed.

            "You could say that!"

            "You know, I'm in awe of you, coping as well as you have for this long. I certainly couldn't have done it, I'd have folded in ages ago."

She looked at him, it had been a while since she had seen Greg being completely serious and she gave him a smile. It was nice to be able to talk like this with him. He was so straight-forward about it. Everyone else seemed to be tip-toeing around her.

            "You never know you're strength until you've been tested."

            "I suppose...so, what is it that's tested your strength this time?"

Jade took a breath before speaking.

            "I had to tell Gil that my parents were murdered, and they never found the killer, which is why I followed in my dad's footsteps to become a CSI."

She said in one breath, then breathed deeply for a moment before looking at Greg.

            "Murdered...I didn't know, I'm sorry."

Jade smiled and shrugged. They stayed in silence for a moment before Greg said thoughtfully.

            "I have no parents either. They died a couple years ago, before I came here. Takes a long time to get over things like that, doesn't it."

Jade watched him for a moment biting into his sandwich.

            "It certainly does. I'm sorry to hear about your parents."

Greg gave her a smile in thanks. 

            "You know, if you need to talk – I'm pretty good at listening most of the time. And I can relate."

            "Thanks Greg. Same goes for you too."

He nodded.

*****

Back in Cath's office Gil had sat down and was trying to word what he wanted to ask.

            "I uh, wanted to know if, uh..."

            "Gil, spit it out."

She half laughed.

            "I want to know about us. If there was anything, you know, between us. Because I just, I wanted to ask you out for dinner sometime – if that's okay."

He said, rushing the words. For a moment Cath sat staring at him, then the idea of her and Gil suddenly struck her as funny and she started to laugh at the thought. Gil stared at her laughing, a confused look on his face. Her whole face had lit up as she laughed whole-heartedly, then she noticed his slightly hurt expression.

            "I'm sorry," she said trying to calm herself down. "I'm sorry. It's just...no, there was never anything between us. We were just really close friends, I was never attracted to you in that way and visa-versa." 

            "Oh, okay. Sorry."

            "No, don't be. But dinner does sound nice though. As friends. It'll be good to get to know you again, it's been a long while since we last sat down and talked."

            "Has it?"

            "Yeah. It was at least a week before...you know."

He nodded. 

            "So, how does tomorrow night sound?"

She asked him. He nodded vigorously. 

            "That sounds good, yeah."

He smiled.

            "Okay then."

She smiled back.

*****

Heading back down from the roof Greg and Jade said goodbye as Warrick headed down the corridor. He nodded as he passed Greg, then smiled as he approached Jade, who smiled back. Giving her a brief hug he asked,

            "How you doing?"

            "Not bad. I told Gil this morning about my parents."

Warrick nodded. She'd told him about them a few months back so he knew all the details.

            "You okay?"

He asked, slightly concerned.

            "I'm...fine, actually. Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

He pulled her in for another long hug.

            "I love you."

            "I love you too."

She smiled. Pulling away, he kept hold of her hand, a question forming on his lips.

            "How about we go out for dinner. Tomorrow night. We haven't been out for ages, and I've got the night off."

            "Mmm, sounds good to me."

She smiled, giving his hand a squeeze with a cheeky smile. She pulled him in for a kiss, then Gil interrupted them apologetically, saying it was almost time for his meeting with the counsellor. She took him to the hospital, then went to have a talk with Jack while Gil was in his meeting.

            "How have you been coping?"

Jack asked her as she sat down opposite him with a coffee.

            "Not bad, not good. I feel like I'm giving up on a huge part of my life. It feels wrong but I know it's the right thing to do. He's never going to be the man I once knew, but it's hard going trying to accept that."

            "It was always going to be hard. Try not to give up hope though. The counsellor tells me he's doing really well. He's even remembered a few random things, strange facts about bugs that he'll sprout out suddenly. It's nothing big, but it is a start. He's never likely to remember everything, but there is a chance his memories of you and his friends will slowly come back to him."

She nodded.

            "I had to tell him about my parents this morning. He uh, decided to quit work. Completely. He's going to try something different."

            "What about your parents?"

He asked, not knowing what she was talking about. She realised he'd never known.

            "Oh, um...do you remember a few weeks back when I told you he'd laughed about the career we'd picked?" He nodded, remembering. "I'd told him why I went into the job – to give people closure – but I didn't tell him why I wanted to give people closure. And it was because of my parents. They were murdered and we never found out who or why. And I had to tell him this morning."

            "I'm sorry, Jade. I didn't know."

            "Of course you didn't. It's not something I tell a lot of people."

Jack thought for a moment, then spoke up.

            "Try not to let this news of him looking for a new job upset you. At the moment he's not up to doing that job anyway, and I'm sure if he did ever want to go back into it, he'd have plenty of people supporting him, and plenty of connections to help him get back into it. So don't take it as a bad sign. It's just how he wants to cope with it. Okay?"

            "Thanks Jack."

She gave him a small smile.

*****

Back at CSI, Nick and Warrick were down in the changing room, changing into some clean clothes after having been rummaging around in trash cans for most of the afternoon.

            "So, what you doing tonight?"

Nick asked him. They'd both worked overtime on the last case and now that it was solved, they didn't have to be in for their usually night shift, having worked throughout the day.

            "Not much. Jade's cooking for Gil tonight so she'll be home late. But we're going out for a meal tomorrow night, just the two of us."

            "Ohh, sounds good."

Nick said with a nudge and a wink. Warrick laughed.

            "So, it's getting serious then? Hm? Will I hear the sounds of wedding bells soon?"

He said, jokingly.

            "Well, lately I have been thinking about it, yeah."

            "Woah man, I didn't think it was 'that' serious! I was just joking!"

            "Well I wasn't." Warrick said seriously. "People like Jade don't come along that often, if ever."

            "Man, you are serious. So you really love her?"

            "I more than love her. I love her so much it hurts, and it hurts not to be with her. I want her to be there all the time, you know? I want to know that she's mine, just mine. And I'm hers."

He brought a ring box out of his pocket and opened it to show Nick. He looked at it, amazed, and impressed, then joked.

            "Man, you're really going soft on me! I'm happy for you, mate. That you've found someone like her. I wish I could have what you've got."

He said clapping a hand on Warrick's shoulder.

            "Thing is I'm not sure about the timing. She's got so much on her plate at the moment, what with Gil being the way he is."

            "You kidding me, it's as good a time as any. Besides it'll get her mind off all the other problems – she needs to concentrate on herself. Gil's a big boy – he can look after himself for a while. Congratulations mate! I presume I'll be the best man."

            "I haven't even asked her yet. She could easily say no."

            "Nah, she'll say yes. I'm sure of it. She loves ya."

            "Thanks Nick."

            "You're welcome, buddy."

He said clapping his hand on Warrick's shoulder again as he handed him the ring box back.

*****

That night Jade cooked Spaghetti Bolognese for Gil as it used to be one of his favourite dishes. And still was by the looks of his empty plate by the end of the night. She smiled to herself as she started to clear away the plates. Gil stood and helped her, taking them towards the sink. Together they washed and dried the dirty dishes as they talked, until one of the plates slid from Jade's grasp and broke on the floor.

            "Damn."

She muttered under her breath and bent down to pick up the pieces.

            "Sorry."

            "It's okay, it's just a plate."

He said simply as he bent down, a wet knife in one hand from where he'd been about the dry it.

            "It's okay, I've got it."

Jade said not looking up. Gil noticed a flash of gold around her neck and saw that her locket had fallen open. Moving his hand forwards he lifted it up between his fingers and looked at the pictures inside. She glanced forwards as she picked up the pieces but didn't look at him.

            "Who's this?"

He asked.

            "One's of my parents, the other is you and me."

Having picked up all the bigger pieces she went to stand and looked up to see the knife in her line of sight. Gasping as the sight brought back horrific memories, she pulled away, scaring Gil who didn't have enough time to let go of the necklace, which went flying across the room and landed on the tiled floor. Jade knelt stock still, leaning back from Gil, staring at the knife in his hand as images flitted across her vision. He quickly put the knife down, worried at her reaction and places his hands on her upper arms.

            "Jade?"

She jolted back to reality and pulled away from him, standing, in an obvious attempt to compose herself. He made no move towards her, stayed as far from her as he could. She was in pain. My God, she was in pain. Was it him?

            "I'm sorry."

She said quietly from her slightly hunched position a few metres away.

            "What was that? Did I do something to hurt you?"

            "No, no. It wasn't you. Not directly. I just looked up and the knife was right in my face, made me jump. Sorry I scared you."

            "I may have lost my memory, but I'm not stupid. It was more than the knife making you jump. You looked like you were reliving something. Another horror from your past you haven't told me about?"

            "Something like that. I'll tell you about it sometime. Just not yet."

He nodded and walked across the room to pick up her necklace.

            "I'm sorry, I think I broke your chain."

            "That's okay. It's been broken before."

She said as she put the broken dish in the bin and headed to get the dustpan and brush. Gil stepped towards where the necklace had fallen and looked down at it, laying on the floor near the table. Something suddenly sparked at the back of his mind and he heard Jade say something, but when he looked up she wasn't there. In fact nothing was how he'd put it. The apartment looked like how he'd seen it the first day he'd been in there. It was back to being the neat, ordered room and he stared around. There were flowers on the table, a half eaten bowl of cereal at the other end of the table, with a dining chair on it's back. Just as suddenly as the room had changed, the images he was seeing changed. Jade was suddenly being dragged by someone, away from him, blood on her side. Feeling something touch his arm he was shoved back into the present to see Jade standing there concerned.

            "Gil, are you okay?"

            "I...I don't know. I saw something. You've been hurt, kidnapped or something. It was really strange. It was like I'd just entered the twilight zone or something."

Jade stared at him.

            "You remember that?"

            "Not really. These images just suddenly flashed across my vision, and these feelings of pain, anger. Man, what was that?"

            "Here, sit down."

She led him to the sofa and sat him down, then went and poured him a glass of water. He took a gulp.

            "Now tell me exactly what happened."

He nodded.

            "I went to pick your necklace up and something felt familiar about where it was laying, and I heard you say something so I looked up but suddenly I wasn't here. Well, I was here but it was like before, before I changed it. There were flowers on the table, and a half eaten bowl of cereal. Then it changed again to you being dragged away with blood on your side. Then I was back here."

Jade looked down at the necklace, then went and picked it up.

            "I was hurt, yeah. I was stabbed, then kidnapped by some guy wanting revenge on you, he wanted to hurt you and he managed it for a while but then you guys got the upper hand and he was cornered, so he shot himself." She laughed suddenly for a moment. "Sounds like something out of some strange movie, doesn't it!"

            "Yeah..."

He said not really listening, but trying to process the images he'd seen.

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**Hope you enjoyed that. Next chapter will be up just as soon as I write it!!! **

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	11. Ch 13: Moments In A Lapse Of Reason

**I know it's been so damn long, but I just couldn't seem to want to write anymore of this and didn't want to write for the sake of it. I wanted to be in the right frame of mood so I apologise for the wait but I'm sure you've coped!!! Oh and AAAAA is my nice way of putting gaps between my scenes seeing as it doesn't like "star star star star star"!!!**

**Barb8: Thank you. I hope you like this as well. **

**Leddy: I hope this adds to your feelings for Gil and Jade. Plenty of good angst here. **

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**Chapter Thirteen – Moments in a Lapse of Reason.**

The next night Cath had arranged to pick Gil up from his place at around 7.30. At the same time Warrick pulled up to see Jade who'd spent the afternoon with Gil. Jade waved Gil and Cath off, then turned and smiled at Warrick.

"What you doing here? I thought you were busy tonight? And what's with the clothes – you look all dressed up?"

She asked as he pulled her in for a kiss before pulling her into the house.

"Well, seeing as they've gone out for a meal I thought we could do the same."

She gave him a beaming smile.

"Aww, that's sweet. Okay, give me 15 minutes and I'll go throw something more suitable on."

She said, turning and walking down the corridor to her room. He watched her leave, wearing slightly tight sweats and thought to himself that she'd still look the most beautiful person in the restaurant wearing what she was wearing anyway.

AAAAA

Three hours later and they'd eaten and paid the bill and decided to go for a slow walk. They take an old route past the Bellagio, gently holding hands and taking in the sights.

"I've missed doing this."

Jade said after a long calm silence.

"Me too."

Warrick agreed.

"It's been so long, I can't even remember the last time."

Warrick nodded, agreeing, then stopped and did a half turn to face her, taking her other hand.

"Then let's do it every night."

Jade laughed.

"You'd get bored."

"With you, never."

Jade didn't know what to say to that so she merely stared at him, staring back at her. He was silent for a moment, then,

"Marry me."

She stared at him more seriously, then did a little half laugh.

"You don't need to marry me to do this every night."

His expression stayed serious.

"I'm being serious." She believed him straight away and stared open-mouthed at him. "I don't just want to share walks with you every night. I want you to be a part of my life every second of every minute of every day. I love you. I want you to marry me."

Kneeling down, he produced a small black velvet box as if out of no-where and opened it to show a sparkling diamond shining back. Jade's eyes widened and she put her hands over her mouth in shock and amazement. Neither of them noticed that a small crowd of people had stopped and were watching them in anticipation of her reply. Finally able to make some sound, Jade whispered as she reached down to the small yet most important box she had ever seen in her life.

"Oh Warrick..."

"Well...?"

He asked looking up into her eyes with the most hope and fear he had ever carried in his life. She turned her gaze from the ring to looking deep into his eyes, the diamond was shining in them and a smile spread slowly across her features.

"Of course I will, you fool."

At that Warrick stood quickly and swept her up into his arms, laughing. She joined in, feeling overwhelming joy and happiness – something she hadn't felt in a long long time as the crowd around them cheered. She looked around at all the strangers faces clapping and laughed even more. Finally he put her down and took the box from her hand, taking out the precious jewel. He held his hand out for hers and she gave it to him, smiling as he slipped the ring onto her finger. She looked at it for a moment, sitting perfectly on her finger, then looked back up at him as the crowd around them dispersed.

"I love you."

She said and leaned in to kiss him. Putting his arms around her he kissed her as passionately as the day he'd confessed he'd loved her.

AAAAA

Reaching home, Jade didn't know what to do. She felt on a high and wanted to scream out to the whole world that she was in love and getting married. She looked over to Warrick who was standing in the hallway with a big smile on his face as he took off his coat. She looked down at the ring sitting perfectly on her finger and smiled again. Two hands on her shoulders brought her gaze back up to Warrick's smiling mischievous expression. She knew what that look meant.

"You know, we really should tell someone. I'm dying to let people know –"

"Shh..." He said putting a finger to her lips. "Let's keep it as our secret for the moment. Just you and me. I'm not sharing you with anyone tonight."

He said as he leaned in and kissed her. Responding, she felt his grip move down, then he twisted her slightly and picked her up without their lips losing contact, before moving into the bedroom.

Early the next morning Jade went around to Gil's to give him the good news. She left Warrick sleeping in and would be picking him up on the way to the lab to let everyone else know as they were all in working on a big case. Warrick had been quite glad he had booked the week off because it was a very slow going case, one of the ones that left you rather drained afterwards.

Jade knocked before entering just to let him know she was there and called his name.

"In the kitchen."

He called. She walked through towards the kitchen area with the smile still plastered to her face. Moment later it vanished as shock and worry set in. Gil was sitting on a stool by the breakfast bar holding a piece of gauze to his forehead.

"Gil, are you okay? What happened?"

"It's nothing. The floor was wet and I slipped."

She made him remove the gauze to look at the cut on his head. It looked superficial but there was a slight bruising around it already.

"It doesn't look too deep. Did you lose consciousness? Or have a dizzy spell? Nausea?"

He thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"Not really. I felt a little dizzy but it passed quickly."

"And you're sure you're feeling okay now?"

She asked as she wiped up some of the blood and was about to place a plaster onto it.

"Yeah, yeah I feel fine. No headache, just feeling a little sore."

"If you're sure...but if you start to feel sick or anything let me know, we'll go and see the Doc to check it out."

"Okay."

He sat quietly as she finished off, then thanked her as he stood and gestured to the living area.

"You mentioned having something to tell me over the phone. Something important."

The smile was back as she sat next to him on the bigger couch he'd bought recently, the other being too small for his liking.

"Yeah, well, last night while you were out with Cath – how did that go by the way?"

He nodded.

"It was fun. I feel like I'm really getting to know her now. Carry on."

"Well, Warrick and I also went out for a meal...and he proposed."

She said as she showed him the ring. He looked down at it in amazement, then up at her smiling face.

"Congratulations, that's great!"

He said, happy for her and pulled her into a hug.

"Thanks. I also wanted to ask you...you've been like a father to me – and I know you don't remember but I do, and it would really mean a lot if you would give me away."

She asked hopefully. He gave her a real genuine, appreciative smile.

"I'd be honoured."

He said seriously. He knew how hard the last few months had been and he knew he was a different person to the one she knew, but it felt like he really belonged in her life now and would like nothing better to be the one to give her away. It was like she was finally accepting the loss of the Grissom she knew and the gain of the Gil he now was.

"Thank you."

She replied.

AAAAA

Picking Warrick up on the way to the lab, Gil congratulated him and had a quick private conversation along the lines of 'if you ever hurt her...' etc. Warrick took it in his stride, knowing it was Gil's job as her God-father to say these things. It made him happy to think that he seemed to be getting on track with his life and taking his responsibilities back that dealt with his god-daughter, even if his career was taking a massive leap in the other direction. He knew that sometimes in life things didn't always work out how you wanted them too. He'd be only too happy to get the old Grissom back, but it was almost positively never going to happen. He was going to be completely happy with what he had, his career was going well and he was engaged to a completely fantastic woman – something he never thought would happen to him.

They reach the hospital in high spirits, just in time for the others coming off their shift. It didn't take long for them to gather their friends in the break room and give them all the good news. They were all ecstatic for the happy couple and Greg and Sara went out to get a couple bottles of wine to celebrate.

They spent an hour having a good time, interrupting the day shift, but not caring in the least. Halfway through the celebration Cath managed to pull Jade aside to have a good woman to woman chat.

Jade smiled at Cath as she pulled her into a quiet corner and sat her down. In fact she hadn't stopped smiling properly since the night before.

"I just wanted to have a chat with you, you know, about things."

"Ohhh...one of those talks."

Jade smiled. That was one of the small regrets she'd had about this perfect moment in her life. That she didn't have her mother there to give her that talk about marriage, commitment and everything.

"It's just...I never got the talk from my mother and I really wished I had, and having been married myself I thought I'd just give you some advice that I think would have helped me."

"Thanks Cath."

She nodded, then got right in with giving the advice – everything from what things you should discuss with your husband and what you should keep secret, certain tricks Cath had learnt to keep the marriage fresh, plus things she thought she had done wrong, hoping to give Jade a wider range of choices when it came to certain problems. It took nearly 20 minutes for her to relate everything she thought would be of help to Jade. When she finally looked up she noticed that the room had thinned slightly since she'd last looked up. She caught Warrick's eye and he gave her a smile and a wink before turning back to Nick and Greg's man speech, then she looked around the room searching for Gil and frowned when she couldn't see him.

"Can you see Gil?"

She asked Cath. She took a look around, then stood for a better view. Jade stood with her, taking a few steps to look down the corridor but he wasn't there either.

"I'm gonna go check about, he must be here somewhere."

Jade said. Cath nodded.

"I'll go check downstairs."

Two minutes later they were back by the break-room with no sign of Gil anywhere. Having exhausted most possibilities they headed to the main desk.

"Hey Diane, have you seen Gil Grissom come past here?"

Cath asked the receptionist. She nodded.

"Yeah, he went about 10 minutes ago, asked me where the nearest roller coaster was. Is everything okay?"

Jade frowned as Cath calmed the receptionist's worries, while feeling her own start to surface.

"He hasn't been on a roller coast since the accident."

Jade said, feeling the panic rise up in her throat. Cath put a calming hand on Jade's shoulder.

"Let's just go and find him, I'm sure he's okay so let's not panic until we have something to panic about, okay?"

Jade forced herself to take a breath, then followed Cath out at a very fast pace towards the closest park.

It only took two minutes to reach it, but then came the problem of finding him in the crowds. Jade stood for a moment, before deciding to head for the biggest coaster in the park as it seemed the best place to start. Cath followed her without question and was glad when they noticed Gil sitting in the front seat of the coaster as it was being taken up the first ramp and to the first big drop, leading to a corkscrew.

Even though they'd found him Jade was still worried and they both went and stood at the exit of the ride waiting for it to finish. It seemed to take forever to end, and even longer as they watched all the people getting off the ride with no sign of Grissom. She looked through the gab to see him still sitting in the front, staring at nothing, with the guy in charge of the ride asking him to get off the ride.

Without thinking Jade rushed onto the ride through the exit with Catherine in tow, ignoring the man trying to stop them.

"Gil? Gil."

She asked as she went and bent down next to him. She put a hand on his shoulder and shook him gently as she said his name again. She didn't get any type of response, he just stared into the space ahead of him. As she got a little more frantic – a sharper shake, a more commanding tone – Cath turned to the guy in charge, the fear barely hidden in her eyes and asked them to call an ambulance. Then she turned to Jade and put a hand on her arm, stopping her from shaking him any harder than she already was. The tears were already tipping from her eyes.

"Jade, Jade."

She put her hand on Jade's cheek and made her turn her head away from Gil.

"It's okay, it's going to be okay."

She told her calmly.

"What's wrong with him?"

Jade asked.

"I don't know, sweety, I've asked them to call an ambulance to be on the safe side. He looks like he's catatonic."

Jade's fear had taken over her sensible, thought process and the links just clicked into place.

"Oh God."

"What?"

Cath asked, hearing the dread in Jade's voice as if she'd just remembered something she shouldn't have forgotten.

"He hit his head this morning and I told him he should go and get a check up but he refused and he promised me he'd let someone know if he felt any symptoms. God, if only I'd taken him straight to the hospital this wouldn't have happened."

She looked over at where Gil was just staring, he hadn't moved at all, and she took his hand.

"Jade, this isn't your fault. You weren't to know that him banging his head would cause this. Let's just keep calm until we get him to hospital and find out what's wrong."

AAAAA

Jade had called Warrick from the ambulance to let him know what was going on. He'd missed her at the celebration and had been trying to contact her with no luck. Shocked to hear about Gil he told her he'd meet her at the hospital. Warrick still hadn't arrived when Jack came into the waiting room after checking Grissom over.

"What's wrong with him?"

Jade asked outright.

"He's catatonic. Somehow that bump to the head caused some sort of reaction in his brain – you wouldn't have known it would cause something like this. Nine out of ten times bangs to the head are completely harmless."

Jade looked distraught as she looked down at the floor – she'd been up above cloud nine since the night before and she felt that she'd been brought back to earth with such a bang she must have broken all the bones in her body.

"It's not fair..."

Cath turned to Jack.

"So what happens now?"

"There's a few choices we can take. Usually people come out of catatonic states on their own – we've found that sometimes hearing familiar voices help."

"And unusually?"

Cath asked, hearing the but in his sentence.

"Sometimes it could lead to a coma."

"No."

Jack and Cath looked over to Jade.

"No." She said again. "We've been here – we're not going back there again."

"Jade..."

Cath started.

"No!"

Jade said sternly before walking out the door. The tears glazing her eyes didn't go unnoticed by both Jack and Cath.

Out in the corridor Warrick walked around the corner to see Jade pacing towards him. She seemed to be looking through him and he grabbed her arm as she was about to pass.

"Jade, honey?"

She looked up and seemed to notice him for the first time, before she shook her head and burst into hysterical tears. He pulled her towards him quickly and held her tight, feeling his own lungs start to tighten in fear. At that moment Cath came around the corner. Warrick mouthed Gil's name in question and she mouthed back the answer, relieving his worry slightly in that Grissom was still alive at least.

AAAAA

Cath sat with Jade until her shift was about to begin. Warrick had been with her the whole day, talking to Gil with her. Just after Cath went Warrick headed to the cafeteria to get them both some coffee as they'd both been up all day.

Jade sat quietly in the chair next to his bed, staring down at her hands with no clue as to what to do or say anymore.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a movement and looked up to see Gil's hand twitch. She was on her feet in a second, taking hold of the hand and squeezing it. When she felt a slight squeeze back all the torrid emotions that's had plagued her all day fell away. He was awake.

He blinked a couple times looking confusedly at the ceiling, obviously trying to work out where he was and how he'd gotten there.

"Gil?"

She called to him. He looked over at her, then frowned. A nervous feeling rushed into her stomach and she heard the words 'who are you?' echo in her mind. But to her relief he asked,

"Jade...? What are you doing here? What am I doing here?"

He added on as it suddenly occurred to him he was in a hospital bed.

"It's okay. You've been catatonic for a few hours from that bang to the head this morning, but you're going to be okay. I'll just call Jack to come and check you over."

Before she could move away he grabbed her arm.

"Why are you here?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"How did you get here so quickly from California if I've only been catatonic for a few hours? And I don't remember banging my head this morning. In fact," he said, a thought suddenly occurring to him. "this morning seemed a long time ago."

Jade didn't listen to him, she'd stopped at the point where he'd mentioned California.

"Gil, what's the last thing you remember?"

"I was called to a crime scene in a warehouse. A man was found dead. How did I end up here?"

Before he could think he found Jade launching herself at him in what could only be described as utter ecstasy as she hugged him tight.

"Hey Gris!"

Gil looked over as Warrick entered the room happily.

"Warrick? You here too?"

"Yeah man. I'll go get Jack."

He headed out as Gil gently pushed Jade away to see her face. There were tears on her face.

"Jade, what's wrong? I'm okay."

She shook her head.

"Gil...it's been a couple months since you were at that crime scene."

"Huh?"

Seeing Grissom confused and speechless with that look on his face brought a sense of joy to Jade. She hadn't seen that expression for longer than she can remember.

"But you just said I'd only been catatonic for a few hours."

She nodded but before she could launch into the story Jack entered with Warrick.

"Hey Mr. Grissom. Glad to see you're awake."

Before Jade could say anything to Jack, Gil spoke.

"I'm sorry Doctor...?"

Jack stopped moving for a moment and stared at him.

"Jack, he doesn't remember anything of the past two months."

She could see the through processes on Jack's face as he took in this piece of news. Jade smiled at Warrick who moved over and took her hand in both of his.

"What is going on here?"

Grissom asked. He hated being in the dark about things like this.

"Jade, Warrick, would you wait outside for a moment while I give Mr. Grissom a check-over?"

They both nodded and left the room.

AAAAA

It was nearly half an hour later and a few different doctors had been in and out of the room since, before Jack left and headed over to them.

"So...?"

Jade questioned as Jack sat.

"I can't explain it. There's been a few cases such as this but I've never seen it. Somehow the bang to the head this morning bumped him back to...Gil Grissom." He took a breath, trying to work out how to describe it. "It's like after the accident his mind created an alternate Grissom that didn't remember what happened in the warehouse to protect himself, and after the incident this morning his mind realised he didn't need to anymore and it's righted itself. Like he's been in an awake coma for the past months."

"So, what now?"

"We'll keep him in for observations but other than that he's fine. Physically 100% although he made need a few counselling sessions to sort his mind out. But right now he's in there waiting for you guys to fill in the gaps."

Jade took Jack's hand in hers and squeezed it.

"I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am for everything you've done these past months."

She leaned in and gave him a kiss, then took Warrick's hand and headed back into Grissom's room to find him sitting up in bed. She gave him a smile.

"Okay." He said. "I guess you've got a lot to fill me in on."

"I guess we have."

She smiled. Warrick, realising he wasn't needed at this point said he'd head to the lab to tell everyone the news in person. Then Jade launched into everything that had happened since the warehouse, everything about the case, about what he was like when he woke up.

"Your Graduation!"

He suddenly blurted out at her, making her stop mid-sentence.

"What about it?"

"How was it? How did you do?"

She smiled.

"I passed with honours. But I didn't go to the graduation."

"Why not?"

She looked away.

"I couldn't bear to go knowing you wouldn't be there."

"I'm sorry."

Her gaze shot up to him.

"What are you being sorry about? None of this is your fault." She took his hand and gave it a squeeze. "You're back now and that's the main thing."

He gave her a rare genuine smile, then noticed the glimmering ring on her finger.

"What's this?"

He asked, giving her a look as he moved her hand into a better light to see the ring. Jade suddenly smiled with a slight blush.

"Oh...Warrick proposed. I said yes."

For a moment he seemed shocked, then he smiled.

"I have missed a lot. Congratulations."

"Thanks."

"I can't believe I've missed so much. I'm really happy for you."

Her smile got bigger if that was possible.

"Thank you. It means a lot. Well, seeing as you don't remember the last time I asked, I'll ask again. Will you give me away?"

"It'll be my honour."

AAAAA

Two days and almost a dozen check-ups later, along with hundreds of visitors, Grissom was finally given a clean bill of health and was allowed to go home.

Jade hands him his key to unlock his front door and he steps in. He'd barely made it three steps when he stopped dead.

"What the – "

He started to say. Jade looked around at the room. She knew she'd forgotten to mention something.

"Oh yeah...I forgot to mention..."

"What have you been up to in here? The place is a state."

"Oh, this wasn't me. This was you –I've been spending most of my time at Warrick's."

She laughed at the shocked expression on his face as he stared around his apartment.

"This is going to take some cleaning up."

**Okay, only the epilogue left now!!! It's like a miniature end of an era!!! He he!!!**


	12. Epilogue

**Hey guys. Well, this is it, this is the end. I hope you like it. Aww, it's kinda sad that this has come to an end. I don't really have any ideas for another one – at the moment that would seem like overkill. I have been working on one to do with Greg though for all you Greg lovers. Let me know what you think. **

**Thehoodedsweatshirt: Thank you. Here's the last instalment for ya. Not much G/C I'm afraid but they do talk a little.**

**Leddy: Aww, cheers mate. I'm glad you've liked my story enough to stick with it throughout. Here's the epilogue for ya and I hope it doesn't disappoint.**

**Epilogue – Be Still My Heart**

Entering Cath's house, Gil spotted Cath and Sara along with Lindsey and Jade's friend Zoe sitting at the kitchen table. Cath was finishing Sara's hair while Zoe was checking her make-up. All three were wearing deep red satin dresses, while Cath was wearing a long, almost skin tight holter neck dress in a soft blue colour, her hair hanging delicately around her face. He stared at her for a moment before shaking himself mentally and turning to give another of his rare smiles to Lindsey before turning back to Cath who spoke first.

"Hey Gil."

Cath said to him as he entered the kitchen.

"Hey. Where's Jade?"

"She's upstairs. I think she's needs the 'father' talk?"

She told him. He looked slightly nervous at that, and not completely sure what she meant. Noticing his expression she carried on.

"You know, that talk a father would give his daughter before he walks her down the isle to give her away."

"Well, what do I say?"

"I'm sure the words will come to you, Gil. Now go."

Knowing Cath's commanding tone he nodded, his mind stumbling over a million different possibilities of what to say as he walked up the stairs.

He knocked on the bedroom door and waited until he heard Jade invite him in before he opened it. Her back was to him, staring into the full length mirror. Her dress was the traditional white and consisted of a simple off the shoulder corset style top half that filtered into a satin, flowing skirt section that trailed on the floor. The red roses she was holding stood out passionately against the pure white dress. She'd been growing her short hair and it was now roughly five inches long. It had been pulled back in small twists and bunched up at the back in a random way, strands of hair sticking out here and there, mixed with small white flowers. It contrasted with the red flowers the bridesmaids were wearing in their hair of the same style. She wore a small tiara which had strands of diamonds handing down from it, over her face, just far enough away not to be touching her if she kept her head straight.

He could only gape at her as she turned around and gave him a nervous smile that broke into an amused look at his expression.

"You're mouth's hanging open Gil."

"Huh? Oh, sorry."

"I guess from the look I must look okay."

"You look...amazing. So grown up...and beautiful."

He caught himself before he said anymore.

"Thank you."

He noticed her slightly shaky smile.

"You feeling okay?"

"Nervous. Really really nervous."

He could tell. He stood there for a moment, still not knowing what to say so he tried to stumble through it.

"Cath said I had to come up and talk...you know...no." He changed his mind about what he was going to say suddenly. "If your father was here he'd more than likely stutter some speech about being incredibly proud of you, happy that you'd found someone to spend the rest of your life with and let you know that if he ever hurt you that he'd kill him." He paused as she watched him. "I'm not great at these type of speeches so I'm just gonna say this. I know I'm not your father, never pretended to be...but if I ever had a daughter, I'd want her to be just like you."

He looked up to see tears in her eyes, before she smiled and moved closer for a hug. He hugged her back carefully and heard her barely whisper.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

Taking a breath, he knew that what he couldn't say out loud, she knew anyway. And from that point on she was as close to him as any daughter could be to a father. His life was finally back on track.

"You ready?"

He asked her. She pulled back and nodded with a deep breath. Holding his arm out, she took it and he led her out the door and towards her future.

**The End.**


End file.
